Fish
by 50-percent-mermaid
Summary: Itachi/OC: When a former kunoichi of Kumogakure is threatened into joining the Akatsuki, it doesn't take very long for her past to catch up to her. Not only does she have to give up her life in paradise to work for criminals, she is forced to face the life that she has been hiding from in order to protect her loved ones. Rated T for language, violence, and suggested themes.
1. Storm

**I do not own _Naruto_ or any characters by Masashi Kishimoto.**

**New original characters and themes introduced in _Fish_ are based on Masashi Kishimoto's _Naruto_.**

**A new chapter will be posted every other Monday. Unless I forget, in which case I will post it on Tuesday.**

**Enjoy!**

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Another roar tore through the night sky, splitting everything that stood in its path. Summer storms were a common occurrence in the tropics. Squalls drenched the island of Kiawa from May to September, but this particular storm system took advantage of the hot ocean water that surrounded the island, growing into a typhoon. It began slamming the island in the late afternoon, and it was still coming in full force well into the middle of the night.

My efforts to block out the thunder were all in vain. The sound was strong enough to crack through my pillow that I buried my ears under. Even though the noise wasn't the source of my migraine, it certainly made the pain worse.

The pain in my head came from a unique kekkei genkai that I was unfortunate enough to inherit from my mother. Out of the many cousins of our generation, my twin sister and I were the only two stuck with this curse. Hanini and I were the very first in the family to receive formal shinobi training in order to control our power more easily. The training helped a little, but not very much.

This kekkei genkai, or the "Babakoto" as my family refers to it as, stores a massive amount of electrical energy in my brain. It isn't chakra, which is why shinobi training wasn't that affective. It is a completely different manifestation of physical energy that is borrowed from nature, specifically light from the sun. As a carrier of the bloodline, my skin is built to absorb the sun's heat energy. From there, it is sent to the brain to be stored, and then converted into electrical energy. Stories that were passed down in the family suggest that it had derived from attempts at sage power that never quite worked.

Like all powerful kekkei genkai, this one had several side effects. One of the side effects include irritation in response to continued exposure to external electrical energy, like massive storms. However, storms as strong as the one that night only occurred a few times a year on Kiawa. Not to mention, I was at sea level, as far below the clouds as I could be. So, my migraine that night wasn't nearly as horrible as it could've been. But, from the time I was six until I was eighteen, I lived in Kumogakure where my sister and I were trained to serve them.

Kumo was literally in the clouds, so the environment consisted of more negatively charged particles than most places. The negative particles would try to interact with my energy, triggering intense pain in my head. Originally from Kiawa, my body was not used to the environmental change and it never built up immunity to Kumo's atmosphere. I figured that leaving Kumo would cure me, and it did for a while. The migraines actually ceased all together for almost a year before they started up again.

Eventually, I fought myself out of bed to search for medicine. I didn't bother flipping on the lights so as not to put more unnecessary strain on my eyes. Instead, I felt my way around the house using the walls. Every now and then a flash of lightning lit the room, giving me enough indication of my path.

The power must have been out anyway. I noticed candles lighting the large living room rather than the lamps. The man I stayed with, Reiki, never bothered with candles when he didn't need to. The golden light tickled the wooden walls, too weak to even reach the ceiling.

Normally I had my own place to stay at, but I'd been staying at Reiki's for a couple of days. A couple weeks before the storm, I noticed that I was being followed by someone. They had to have been a shinobi of some sort because an average civilian wouldn't have been able to pursue me for so long. This concerned me since active shinobi were rare on Kiawa. I didn't bother them so that I could get an idea of what they were after. A week without confrontation, I stayed with Reiki to see if it had anything to do with him. If they weren't after me, they were most likely after him, and he couldn't defend himself against shinobi like me.

Reiki was a middle-aged man, and a distant cousin of mine somewhere on my great-grandmother's sister's side. Most wouldn't guess that he was capable of success in his laid-back sandals and long, unruly hair. However, he was one of the wealthiest men on the island, and he owned several local businesses, including vacation rentals and rum. He basically owned the island. He was kind enough to lend me one of his vacation houses in exchange for a reduced fee when I returned to Kiawa from Kumo. Just so I had something to do, I helped him run some of his businesses since they were growing exponentially all over the island.

I searched in the kitchen for my pain reliever. Instead, I found Reiki sitting at the table with a strange woman who I had never seen before. There were native Kians like Reiki who had dark brown skin, some as black as charcoal, and she was one of them. If it hadn't been for their lighter clothes and the whites of their eyes, I wouldn't have been able to see either of them. They both blended into the shadows flickering behind them.

Seeing the woman in Reiki's kitchen surprised me. It wasn't like Reiki to have guests besides me, especially not in the middle of the night. I only took my eyes off her to acknowledge Reiki, and then I proceeded to observe her. She seemed to study me in return. "Indri, what's wrong?" he asked upon noticing me.

"I have another migraine. I was just looking for something to take for it." Then, I bowed to the woman to show respect, despite my suspicion. "Excuse me for interrupting. I didn't know Reiki had company." She couldn't have been the one following me. I could tell she wasn't a shinobi by her scrawny physic. Even my body that was weakened from lack of missions was more muscular than hers.

"This is Kione," he introduced me to her. "She manages the berries that we use for the rum up in the mountains. Kione, this is Indira, the eldest of the twins I told you about."

Kione didn't give me time to speak. "It's nice to finally meet you, Indira. You've got the same pretty dark hair as your mother that I always envied. I didn't know wavy hair could be that smooth before knowing her."

Faking a smile, I simply thanked her and suggested that she use the same conditioner as mine. I reframed from questioning her in front of Reiki. It wasn't any of my business what she was doing here, at least not at the moment. I could get information about her out of Reiki when she was gone.

"Indri, can't you do something about the power?" Reiki asked me. "The generator's out."

Normally I would've replied to him with a snarky answer, but I held back my ill humor in front of Kione. "It'll have to wait until tomorrow. I won't be able to look at it in this storm."

I continued to search for pain reliever, trying to listen to their conversation. Even after I found it, I acted like I was still looking. All they talked about in front of me was rum, though. There wasn't much to listen to. Finally, Kione announced, "I'm exhausted. If you'll excuse me, I'm going to bed."

She retired into Reiki's room, which he had given up for her that night. When I was positive she was gone, I asked him as quietly as I could, "What the hell is she doing here? It's the middle of the night, and there's a typhoon outside."

"Don't worry about her." Obviously lying, he looked as if she had just asked him to kill someone. "She had some urgent business with me before heading to Tomonoura in the morning. The storm lightened up while you were asleep, so she was able to get here safely." Tomonoura was the only major village on the island, built by the mainlanders when they first settled on Kiawa. It was a huge tourist destination located only a few miles north of where we were. "Don't worry about her," he repeated himself.

"Well, let me know if you need anything," I offered him my assistance with a confident smirk.

"I've known Kione and her family since I was little, and she's one of my best employees. I trust her." Lies. "Besides, it's not like I got anything to be afraid of with you and your fancy powers around."

"I guess," I mumbled.

The medicine wasn't kicking in fast enough, so I picked a bottle of rum from the cabinet to help it along. "What the hell, girl!" he scolded me as if I was a child in his angriest whisper to keep Kione from hearing. "You're gonna kill yourself drinking like that!"

"Well, it hasn't yet."

My eyes snapped at him when he snatched the bottle from my hand. He was never the type to worry about what others did. It was odd seeing him act like this. "What's the matter with you?" he asked in an unusually stern tone. "You drink all the time, and what is it with all these drugs you've been taking?"

"They're not just drugs. I don't understand why you're so concerned about me all of a sudden," I defended myself. Originally I was trained in the medical arts, and I specialized in the development of antidotes and poisons since my medical ninjutsu wasn't the best because of my lack of chakra. Eventually, I made painkillers for my own migraines. They were a lot stronger than what any store will sell, so they worked much better. I actually made a notable profit off of them by distributing them under the market. I was always fascinated in what different substances with a little modification could do to the human body, particularly the venom of marine life. When I wasn't training, helping Reiki, or surfing, I was diving to study the biology of various plankton, jellyfish, coral, and many other species found in the ocean.

"You could be ten times the success that I am with your mind, but you have no desire to do anything besides drink and take drugs. Listen, I'm not going to be here forever. You're the only one I can trust to take over for me when I'm gone." I didn't like the sound of that. I preferred his lies and aggressive whispering.

After taking a few deep breaths, his voice softened when he offered me tea. "I'll put on some tea for you. It'll heal your head better than this."

I let him take away my rum since I wasn't in the mood for arguing. He kept talking while he waited for the water to boil. "Indri, what is the matter? Is it Nini?" Even though she was my sister, I made a disgusted face at the sound of her nickname.

"She's as good as dead to me. You know I don't bother with her anymore." The last I heard of her, she was back on Kiawa with a male acquaintance that was probably her latest lover.

"Does she still blame you for your mother's death?"

"Well she hasn't talked to me since she tried to kill me that one time, so I would assume she does," I replied in a sarcastic tone. When we were both only eighteen, our mother killed herself in Kumogakure. Kumo somehow linked her death with several others, all of whom I worked with on a mission the year before. They couldn't find the real culprit, so they accused me of the murders and labeled me a criminal. They also accused Hanini because they assumed she helped. Hanini didn't believe that I had actually done it, but she believed that I was somehow involved and hated me for causing her to flee Kumo and for being labeled as a criminal. Out of those who knew about the incident, Reiki was the only one who believed the full truth.

"So if it isn't Nini, what is it?" he pushed for an answer. "I can tell something's been bothering your thoughts."

He sat down quietly in front of me. I figured now was the best time to tell him about the shinobi following me with the storm keeping them at bay. "Reiki, there's someone following me."

"When did this begin?" He didn't seem very concerned about my safety. I liked to think it was because he knew I could take care of myself, not because he didn't care about me.

"About two weeks ago. That's why I've been staying with you the past few days. I didn't notice them today, though. Probably because of the storm." I played with the wax of the candle with my finger as I talked to him.

"Do you think it could be that you miss Hanini? Your mind could be trying to fill in the blank where she used to be, making you feel like there is someone watching you."

I furrowed my brows at his suggestion. "After almost two years? Really, Reiki? Besides, I was a jonin in Kumo. Do you honestly think I can't tell when someone is following me?"

"What do you want me to tell you, then?" he asked defensively.

"You asked me what was going on, and I told you. Someone's following me. There's nothing _you_ can do about it."

"And you brought them here so they can spy on you at _my_ house!"

"I don't know what they want, but they haven't done anything yet and they haven't seen anything important. If they want something, they'll come to me sooner or later. And if they did their job, they should know that they can't get to you unless they get through me first." By the time I finished, Reiki had made tea and poured it into two mugs. He also added a shot of rum to both of them. I smirked at his gesture, but he shrugged it off.

"Something like that wouldn't make you act so strange. Especially if you were such a high and mighty jonin like you say. There's something else bothering you." I didn't say anything. I simply took my tea from him and blew on it.

To be honest, I wasn't sure what it was either, but he was right. Maybe it was Hanini. Or maybe I was convinced that I would end up like Mama with the Babakoto inciting these migraines. Hopefully more time on the island would help. After all, I was forced to survive Kumogakure's environment for over a decade. It might take more time to recover. "It's nothing. I'm just a little weary from all these migraines I've been having."

"I'm worried about that guy outside my house!" I didn't reply. I simply allowed a dark silence to ring between Reiki and myself as we sipped our tea. "Well whatever you do, Indri, stay away from that Kione. She's important to my rum, but you don't need to get involved with her. She can be a bit aggravating at times. Also, try not to completely burn your sister's bridge. You might need her later on."

"It's a little too late for that, Reiki," I replied.

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**Check back on June 23rd 2014 for a new chapter!**


	2. Paradise

**Very quick author's note: **

**I really hate to do this to y'all right after publishing this story, but I had to change the sister's name from Konane to Hanini. I literally just realized that Konane was too close to Konan's name. (I can be a little slow sometimes...) Reiki and Indri call her Nini occasionally. I changed it in the first chapter, so if you're a new reader, you shouldn't have to worry about it.**

**That's all! Sorry for the confusion! Enjoy!**

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Reiki was convinced that a few days of relaxing on the beach would help me feel better. I wasn't so sure that it would, but I wasn't complaining.

The day after the storm was absolutely gorgeous. There wasn't a single cloud in the sky. The blue of the sky disappeared into the ocean on a cerulean horizon. I found myself drifting away from the shore on a paddleboard surrounded by the pristine color. The surface of the ocean was so still and clear as if it was made of glass, that is until my movements distorted the water.

The beach I choose to spend the day at was in a secluded cove that my little house overlooked from the shorter end of a cliff. Very few individuals knew of its location. It was one of the many secrets hidden from the tourists of Tomonoura. Now my stalker knew of it, though I'm sure he wasn't following me so closely simply to find a hidden tropical paradise. I figured that if I was going to wait for him to make a move, I might as well wait in the most relaxing place I could think of.

Sweat began to accumulate at my hairline, and eventually I had to slip into the water to escape from the sun's scorching rays. If I was sweating, that meant the temperature must have reached unfathomable heights. When other people say they're comfortable, I freeze. When other people say they're burning up, I'm comfortable. But today was just plain _hot_. Even the water was so warm it could've easily been mistaken for bath water.

When I came up for air, I noticed another presence in addition to the original spy. My eyes scanned the beach for them, but I still didn't see anyone. Taking a deep breath, I completely submerged myself into the ocean away from the world, and away from my stalker. Or, I guess I should say "stalkers" now that there were two of them. I used my chakra to blow a large bubble around my nose and mouth so that I could breathe. This jutsu wouldn't last very long, though. I had about five minutes of air in the bubble. Ten, if I breathed slowly.

The pretty light turquoise of the surface faded into a deeper shade towards the ocean floor that resembled the darker side of twilight, and a bed of sediment with dark patches of coral stretched bellow the surface as far as the eye could see. I would've loved nothing more than to swim and swim and swim. My legs propelled me over the reef and towards the open ocean. I thought to myself that it must be nice to be a manta ray. All they had to worry about was finding food and predators. There was none of this shinobi bullshit.

As I was daydreaming, a large shadow on the seafloor caught my eye. This shadow didn't come from my board. It moved too fast and it possessed a different shape. I let myself sink to the bottom of the sea and looked up. Hovering above me was a massive great white with a menacing look on its face. It had to be at least three times my own size. And this wasn't just any great white, either. It was a summoned animal. The spy had finally made his move. Unfortunately for them, they were in my territory.

The shark charged at me. If I had been anyone else, I probably would've been attacked and killed. However, this was one of those times when the Babakoto was actually quite useful. I discharged a dangerous amount of electricity into the water and made a break for the surface. Despite my pathetic amount of chakra, there was almost as much electrical energy in my head as chakra in a jinchuriki's body. It was especially dangerous in the water. The shock wasn't strong enough to cancel the jutsu, though it damaged the shark's nerves that were sensitive to electricity, causing it to swim around frantically in pain. It was enough to allow me to get to the surface and onto my board.

The damage I inflicted on the summon made it useless, but my opponent wasn't finished with me. A powerful current pulled the water away from the shore, dragging me along with it. This guy must've had a ridiculous amount of chakra to pull off this jutsu. All I could do was paddle.

It's like they didn't do their homework at all. To be fair, though, they never had the chance to actually see me fight on Kiawa to find out how I used my abilities. Catching the wave was a bit of a challenge, though. I wasn't used to riding such large waves on paddleboards.

Another shark breached the surface right in font of me. With the help of some chakra, I threw my board between the animal and my body to protect myself. That's when the shark snapped my board in half. I grabbed its snout and forced as much electricity into the animal as I could into one area. That last blast disrupted the jutsu, and I prepared for the impact into the huge wave.

I was able to fight my way out of the wave as it died down, but not without a few cuts and bruises from the reef below. Once I was out, I had to make sure to adjust my bathing suit before reaching the shallows. My skimpy bikini wasn't meant for such rough wipeouts. I was grateful that it was even on afterwards.

As I fought my way back to shore to face my opponents, the first thing I saw was an obnoxious red cloud pattern on two hideous black cloaks. I would've said something about them wearing those cloaks in the heat, but I was too pissed off.

The one I noticed first was a handsome young man about my age who had his black hair tied back in a loose ponytail. I couldn't see how long it was because of his cloak. Though, I could see that he was pretty pale, definitely not from around Kiawa or anywhere near the tropics. He also held an intense gaze in his strange red eyes. I was sure I had seen those eyes somewhere before. A memory of them popped in my head, but the cloak covered his mouth and nose, preventing me from studying his whole face. I could tell he was the one who had been spying on me the whole time. His calm demeanor matched his electrical pulse.

The other man was much taller than his younger companion, and his weird blue skin featured gills on his strong cheeks. His fearsome smile revealed sharp, triangular teeth, and he carried a massive sword on his back that was larger than me. Obviously he was the one responsible for the summoned shark that slaughtered my board. "You!" My crackling, feminine voice was hardly threatening. "You destroyed my board! Why the fuck would you do that?" My temper had not been this flared in years. It must've been the heat along with the fact that my board cost about ten thousand ryo.

"She sounds a lot like Hidan," he responded with a sharp tone to go with his teeth. "Don't you agree, Itachi?" That name forced a younger, preteen face to appear in my head that matched those red eyes. I was too concerned about my board to worry about him at the time.

"You didn't answer my question! Why did you destroy my board? That board that you snapped in half like a twig cost me ten thousand ryo!"

His answer made me even more furious, "We needed you out of the water so that we could talk to you."

"You broke my surfboard so that you could _talk_ to me?" my voice raised even higher than it already was. "The fuck is wrong with you? That was completely unnecessary!"

"You won't be needing a surfboard for much longer, Indira," Itachi interrupted me.

My voice lowered and my tone became more snarky than angry when I finally acknowledged him. "Itachi," I called. "What's the matter? Can't talk to a girl by yourself so you had to get your fish to do it? Then again, you didn't talk much several years ago either."

"You know her, Itachi? You never mentioned that." His partner pretended to be surprised that he kept information from him.

Itachi didn't respond, and my temper was too flared to explain that I had met him in Konoha when I had to take the chunin exams. The infamous Uchiha already passed a few years before. I just happened to bump into him in the village. However, I basically forced a bet on him that if I passed the chunin exams my first time that he had to take me out to dinner. "Who cares? You owe me ten-thousand ryo for my goddamn board!" I violently pointed towards the ocean where two hunks of wood were gently floating along the surface.

"Don't patronize me about money, Kaikea-san. You're the one with a twenty-million bounty on your head." I narrowed my eyes at him. "Not to mention you've gained millions from illegal distribution of drugs, gambling, and scams on people who still have no idea they were even scammed. Why do you need that kind of money anyway?"

"Good clothes and alcohol aren't exactly cheap. I'm guessing neither of you are here for the bounty then, since you want to _talk_?"

"No, we aren't," Itachi answered my question to my relief. I acted tough, but I was truly a coward at heart, willing to risk a mission or teammate to save myself. I especially didn't want to have to fight either of the two spies. But, I couldn't let them know that. I had to give them the impression that I was fearless, or else they could easily kill me if they learned how weak I really was.

"In that case, can we go inside to discuss whatever it is you want from me? I'm burning up out here." Once my feet had dried, the sand felt more like fire than powder. As I talked, I also rang the water out of my waist-long hair over my feet to keep them from frying.

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**Check back on July 7th 2014 for the next chapter!**


	3. Akatsuki

The shark ninja identified himself as Kisame Hoshigaki from Kirigakure. I was aware of his crimes as well as the Uchiha's. If they really wanted to kill me for the bounty, they would have done it already. There must have been a damn good reason they would travel all the way to Kiawa from the mainland simply to talk to me.

My house was a little less homey than Reiki's. It was a small, simple one-bedroom with the kitchen connected to the living room. There were plenty of surfboards and jars filled with dead marine organisms scattered everywhere. Some of the jars contained small deceased sharks that seemed to disturb Kisame. I felt like they were slightly uncomfortable in my lack of clothing, so I changed into a light turquoise beach dress to lounge in as we talked. The feeling of drying off and relaxing after a hot day on the beach was so refreshing that it masked the sense of urgency from having two extremely dangerous criminals sitting in my house.

Prior to our conversation, I offered both of them drinks. Itachi accepted an iced tea, but Kisame declined.

"Is the bounty the same for my sister?" I started.

"There isn't a bounty on her head that we know of," Itachi answered.

"There's a bounty on me, but not Nini?" I was a little surprised to learn that there wasn't a bounty on Hanini. Even though I was the one accused of the murders, she was still a highly dangerous kunoichi with a rich background. The bounty must have come from a mission that I was assigned to without Hanini. I gave him a fake smile and continued, "That's kind of strange. But anyway, I'm sure you two didn't come all this way just to inform me that someone wants me dead."

"You're correct, Kaikea-san," replied Kisame. "Itachi, I believe you'd be more suited to inform her why we're here."

Itachi did all of the explaining. He told me about an organization known as the Akatsuki that was comprised mostly of S-ranking criminals and rogue ninja like himself and Kisame. The Akatsuki were collecting biju from jinchuriki, and they also accepted missions to raise money towards a goal that Itachi wouldn't explain to me. They found out about me through one of their members named Kakuzu, and they were here to recruit me for their organization. "We understand that you work very well with your sister," he added. "You were known as the 'perfect team' in Kumogakure. Rather than allowing Kakuzu to have your head, we thought that you two might be worth more than your bounty." I gave him a smug grin in response.

Itachi also mentioned that I would be too much of a liability if I refused them, and that they would be forced to take my head for the bounty. I really didn't have a choice since I couldn't fight the two of them alone. "You're right, Itachi. My sister and I are both worth much more than that bounty," I commented. "But I'll accept. Though, I would advise against recruiting my sister. You haven't talked to her yet, have you? I'm sure she was aware of your presence while you were spying on her, Hoshigaki-san."

"Why shouldn't we recruit her?" asked Kisame.

"I don't know how much you two know about her personality, but she'll slack off on missions and leak information. She won't function properly if her boyfriend is killed or if she's separated from him because she's very sensitive and gets lonely easily. You'd put the Akatsuki in danger. Then, you would be forced to kill her, which will result in a huge waste of your time. She's much more of a liability than I would be if I refused your offer."

"What do you suggest, then?" Kisame implied. "Our orders were to recruit _both_ of you."

I replied, "You must not have been too confident in her, otherwise you wouldn't have come to me first." I must've been right because all he did was huff at me. "So why did you two come to me first? Why didn't you use her boyfriend to manipulate her into joining your organization? It would've been too easy."

Itachi answered my question for Kisame, "It's as you said, Indira. Her attachment to this man could be very troublesome later on. We thought you might be able to advise us on how to handle her situation."

"It _will_ be troublesome later on, Itachi," I answered. "And now you know what my advice is. I'm telling you to leave her alone. She has an attachment and she probably hasn't kept up with her training like I have. She won't fight as well as she used to. Whereas, I've had nothing to do but train and surf since I left Kumo, and I have no attachments. I mean, I have Reiki, but I don't have feelings for him that would hinder my ability to complete missions."

"Are you trying to protect your sister?" Itachi asked.

Kisame added before I could reply, "Yeah, I thought you two hadn't even spoken to each other for two years."

"If she wants to join a criminal organization, that's her business. She's perfectly capable of handling herself. I'm simply giving you my honest opinion of what you should do about her for your benefit. Save your energy for something more important."

"And, what about you? Are you capable of serving the Akatsuki without your sister beside you?" Kisame questioned my ability to perform without Hanini.

"You two wouldn't be here if I couldn't," I answered with another smug expression.

"Then prove it," Kisame ordered as he reached for his sword. "I wanted to test your abilities for myself anyway."

"Not in my house!" I yelled as he let out a small chuckle. I had no choice but to reluctantly accept his challenge. "Fine! But, if I win, the Akatsuki is not to bother Nini. Do you understand?"

His response came in the form of a grin followed by, "What do you say, Itachi? It seems like a fair bargain, don't you think?"

Itachi sighed before answering him, "Alright, Kisame. Just don't get carried away. We need to get back as soon as possible."

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We ended up back on the same beach where we originally met. Kisame shed his cloak in the heat of the late afternoon sun, revealing large gills on his shoulders and a very muscular bare chest that slightly intimidated me. Even though I kept up with my training on Kiawa, it had been over a year since I last faced an opponent in a real battle. My only weapons were wire and some poisons that I hadn't tested out yet. At least if my poisons killed him that would mean one less person to worry about. I was barely dressed for our fight, too. I threw on some shorts under my dress and the only shoes I owned that I could wear in a fight were old thong sandals that wouldn't survive long.

Itachi took cover under the shade of a large palm tree near the tree line as I faced Kisame in the sand. I stood with my hands on my waist and my shoulders back to mask my intimidation, studying him as best as I could. He was relaxed, resting his sword in the sand, obviously in his comfort zone. I assumed his attacks were just as extravagant as the jutsu he used to coax me out of the water, and he could probably breathe underwater with his gills much longer than I could with my jutsu. I couldn't risk keeping him near the ocean even though he would undoubtedly try to get me into the water somehow.

"Shall we begin, Kaikea-san?" he threatened, lifting his sword to point it at me with such ease. He must've had at least tree times my strength, and his amount of chakra was like nothing I'd ever seen other than a jinchuriki.

"It's a little too late to be polite after you split my board in half. You might as well call me Indri." With that, I kicked my shoe off at him with as much force as I could.

He blocked it with his sword, laughing at me, "You picked a nice day to die if you were actually being serious." Swinging his sword at me, I kicked my other shoe at him while dodging his blast. I quickly weaved hand signs that produced water in the form of fish to fly out of my mouth. They swarmed around his head and sword, but then they stopped all of a sudden and fell down around him. I figured that he was using something that could disrupt chakra, either a special jutsu or a weapon, most likely his sword.

"I'm really disappointed. Itachi said you had something really special up your sleeves, but if this is the extent of your chakra, you'll certainly end up dead."

"Don't underestimate her, Kisame," Itachi warned him from the sidelines. "She's only feeling you out. She's a strategist. The longer she drags this out, the easier it'll be for her to defeat you."

"If you're gonna give him tips, you should help me, too!" I called to Itachi. If he responded, I didn't have time to listen. Kisame kept coming at me with his sword, and I kept dodging him. His brute force would have severely injured me if he had been able to keep up with me. Still, I was completely in defense until I found the perfect angle to aim for his wrist with my foot, knocking the sword from his hand. However, that left his hand free to grab onto my ankle.

I didn't allow him enough time to hurt me, though. I sent a powerful current of electricity through my ankle and into his body, which forced him to release me as fast as he had grabbed me. Neither of us were getting anywhere with simple close combat. When he started weaving hand signs, I noticed Itachi take off into the jungle to avoid Kisame's jutsu and I quickly followed.

Again, he couldn't quite keep up with my speed, allowing me to outrun a monstrous wave of summoned sharks that appeared out of the ocean. They were even able to move on land and through the jungle by falling on top of each other. They just kept coming and coming, knocking down as many trees as possible to catch up to me until the stronger trees stopped the sharks. I stopped in the middle of the jungle near the cliff to see where Kisame had gone, but I couldn't see him. He must have been following me still. "Stay back," I warned Itachi, who I stayed close to with the assumption that he knew how to handle his partner's excessive jutsu. He listened to me, taking shelter on the cliff high above the canopy of the trees.

Turning back to Kisame's direction, I produced a similar jutsu to the hidden mist jutsu. But, instead of using moister from the air, I used water from my own mouth. This made the range much smaller than the hidden mist jutsu, but it was plenty for what I had planned. I could hear him approaching my location, and finally he spoke, "I'll admit this is an impressive version of the hidden mist jutsu, but I'm afraid it's useless. You see, my sword, Samehada can sense your pathetic chakra hiding through the mist. You're really going to have to do better than that if you want to survive."

Sitting calmly in a large tree, I replied, "Who said I'm hiding from you?" Rather than responding, he came at me with his sword one more time and I dodged him by jumping up into the trees above the mist where a water clone was waiting for me with a water prison jutsu. _I just changed into this dress_, I would have yelled at him if I could. Blood from little scratches I acquired by running through the thorny vines in the jungle swirled around in me, staining my tourqoise dress. My dress was the second thing of mine that Kisame ruined.

"It's over," said the clone as the real Kisame came up behind me with his sword to weaken me by draining my chakra. "Itachi, shall I end it quickly for her, or should I just cut off a few limbs and leave her alive for Kakuzu?"

"Be careful, Kisame," he warned again, but it was too late. I shocked his clone using the water as a conductor, which canceled both jutsu, and I bolted deeper into the jungle. Kisame was able to catch up to me this time, though, since my breath and chakra were both depleted, but it wasn't very hard to dodge him. His moves became sloppy and he seemed to be out of breath as well.

"What's wrong? Can't keep up?" I teased him.

We both stopped for a second to catch our breath and he took the chance to ask, "How can your lightning-style jutsu be so powerful after I drained all of your chakra? You hardly had any to begin with."

"It's not lightning," I explained to him what I had to explain to many other people. "And it's not chakra at all." The smirk fell from his face and his brow furrowed at what I just told him. I noticed that he was also using his sword to balance while I recovered my breath so I could stand confidently with my hands on my hips again. "Feeling dizzy? You might want to forfeit before you pass out and your partner has to carry you back to my house."

"When did you poison me?" He clinched his abdomen in pain.

"The mist jutsu. I tainted the water from my mouth. It would've taken much longer for it to affect someone your size because of how diluted it was from the water, but thanks to your gills and the little scratches you got from the thorns in the jungle, it only took a couple minutes."

His smirk appeared back on his face to respond, "Well, Itachi was right. You are a dangerous little kunoichi."

* * *

**Check back on July 21st 2014 for the next chapter!**


	4. Message

Early November brought a chill to the mainland that the island of Kiawa never experienced. I wasn't used to the changing seasons, so I prepared for the colder weather when I left the island. My winter outfit contained metal fibers that I could conduct my electricity through to heat the fabric like an electric blanket, and I refused to wear that ugly cloak. The leader tried to get me to wear it, but he gave up after it "accidentally" caught on fire.

Reiki didn't know that I had returned to the shinobi business, though I did inform him that I had to go back to the mainland. I convinced him that the spy was sent from Kumo, and they had been sending information about me to a team on the mainland. He thought I had to go after them to stop them. At least that's what I told him. Every now and then I would send him a message with a fake update from a fake location to let him know that I hadn't died yet.

After a few months in the Akatsuki, I had the chance to work with each member of the organization except for the leader and his partner, Konan. They didn't trust me enough to let me accompany them. Out of the teams, I preferred working with Itachi and Kisame the best. They were the least annoying and they actually got along well with each other, unlike Kakuzu and Hidan, who wanted to kill each other. Kakuzu mentioned a couple times that he didn't understand why he couldn't just kill me for the bounty, and Hidan cursed much more than I did. Both Kakuzu and Hidan were unsettling to be around.

Then there were Deidara and Sasori. Sasori was alright by himself, kind of quiet. But, when he was with Deidara, they got on each other's last nerve, which got on my last nerve. Also, I'm a close-range fighter. Trying to fight with Deidara's long-range attacks either worked out really well or really bad. It depended on the mission. As for Zetsu and his masked subordinate called Tobi, they were just weird. Everyone in the organization was weird, but Zetsu and Tobi would've won the award for weirdest team in the Akatsuki if there were such a thing.

Not only did I work better with Kisame and Itachi, their mission success rate improved exponentially. Apparently before I came along, they hardly engaged in battle. Itachi would grow concerned that they would draw attention or he would exhaust his ocular abilities by using his Sharingan, so he would want to retreat before they could complete the mission. As I came to know more about their abilities, I was able to come up with strategies that could complete missions without drawing attention and conserve Itachi's power.

Spending time with the infamous Uchiha, I began thinking more and more about who he was and what he did. I could feel his intense power when we were together and it scared the shit out of me. I figured out real soon that I would easily lose to him if we ever had to face each other in a serious fight. But at the same time, I couldn't feel the hatred that he spoke of from time to time. And, I couldn't make sense as to how this man who analyzed everything almost as well as I did, and graciously refused fights, would kill his own family. The profile just didn't make sense. According to what I heard of the attack, a murder that brutal could have only been committed by someone who had a sloppy, insatiable thirst for blood, which the man I worked with did not seem to have. Not to mention, even with his abilities, there was no way a thirteen-year-old boy could take out an entire shinobi clan, especially not the Uchiha. On the contrary, I was quite comfortable around his calm disposition. However, out of my fear of his power, I stopped myself from thinking about it further. I just wanted to stay away from his bad side, which I fortunately never had the chance to see.

Also, despite our first meeting, I actually started getting along very well with Kisame. We both liked to talk more than Itachi, and had more of a sense of humor, even though his was more crooked than mine. We slightly bickered occasionally, though it wasn't hateful bickering. It was just the result of our boredom and a way to lighten our situation as Akatsuki members. We enjoyed each other's company when Itachi didn't talk, which was almost always after missions.

One evening, Itachi, Kisame, and I finally completed a long, tiring mission. We headed to the nearest village to find food and a place to stay. I was not very happy because the only way to get to the village from our direction was a pathway running up the side of a high mountain. But, it was the only village within walking distance and I preferred beds to rocks, so I sucked it up and continued up the cliff after Kisame and Itachi.

The climb was fairly quiet between the three of us, even between Kisame and me. In fact, Kisame was way ahead of Itachi and me because of his longer legs and larger muscles. He had to stop to wait for us to catch up to him. That's when I looked up to see something odd about the soil on the side of the mountain between him and Itachi. I could only yelp half of Itachi's name before an explosion knocked us both off the mountain at a dangerous height.

Itachi grabbed me at the moment of the explosion while I conducted my electricity into the long metal chain that I wore around my wrist, which allowed me to manipulate it. The end of the chain wrapped around the branch of a tall tree to make for something to grab onto. The sudden force caused Itachi to lose his grip on me, but I was able to catch him with my free hand. His heavier weight was too much for my arm, though, and he ended up pulling my shoulder out of place.

As soon as we were on the ground, a group of bounty hunters began attacking us. Even with my injured arm, defeating them took very little effort. Itachi and I both agreed to kill them afterwards. I also took the time to search for their money, smaller weapons, and any valuable items in their possession.

When I was finished, I tended to my shoulder, but my medical jutsu wasn't strong enough to heal it completely. Rather than coming to our aide, Kisame waited on us where he had originally stopped with a grin on his face. "Thanks for the help," I jabbed at him sarcastically. I didn't really blame him for not helping. He knew Itachi and I were perfectly capable of handling ourselves.

Finally, we arrived at a small inn in the village after sunset. Neither of my teammates were very trustworthy, but I figured Itachi was better suited for popping my shoulder back into place than Kisame. He would've had a good understanding of anatomy in Konoha's Anbu Black Ops. I explained to him how to use his weight to move my shoulder as I laid on one of the beds. He was about to push down on my shoulder when I warned him, "Now, I am going to cry. You probably don't care. Just _please_ don't break my arm."

He didn't say anything. Kisame, however, observed closely, grinning like a child watching a tank full of fish. He found my situation much too amusing.

Before I knew it, Itachi let his weight drop onto my shoulder, moving it back into its rightful place. I let out a squealing cry as he did this, and my breathing became uneven in response to the pain and crying. Kisame let out a rough snicker. I whined, cursing at him through my teeth.

"Well, if you'd been more careful, you wouldn't be in this mess. It's your fault those bounty hunters attacked you, anyway." I shot a narrow-eyed glare at him that held almost as much power as Itachi's eyes. He continued smiling at me.

After I recovered from the pain, we decided to go out for dinner since none of us had a proper meal since before the mission began. It was Kisame's turn to chose where we ate, and he picked a fish house that had outdoor seating. His choice of food made up for his taunting. I believe one of the reasons we got along so well was because we had the same appetite despite our different sizes.

While we waited for our orders, a small bird startled me by landing on the table right by my arm. On closer inspection, it was a swallow carrying a little pouch on its back. Reiki must've had something very important to tell me. "What's that?" Kisame asked.

"What does it look like? It's a message," I answered in a snarky tone.

The message was shrunk to accommodate for the bird's size. By injecting a small amount of chakra into it, the paper grew to its original size. My brows furrowed at its content. "I'm going to have to back to Kiawa," I told the guys.

"What, is that man you worked for trying to contact you? Or maybe your sister?" Kisame and I were the only ones talking. Itachi simply listened to our conversation.

"Reiki is dead. There was an accident in one of the fields with the equipment." I rested my head on my fist and the swallow, still chirping, hopped onto my shoulder. "It doesn't make sense, though."

"Reiki is that guy you worked for, right? What doesn't make sense about it?"

"This was sent from a woman who worked for him. Her name was Kione. It doesn't make sense that she would be the one to inform me about his death. Itachi, you weren't spying on us that night during that typhoon, were you? A woman with dark brown skin in a light dress visited Reiki that night." I asked him with the hope that he might have seen or heard something useful that I didn't.

Itachi responded with, "Kisame and I were forced to retreat that night due to the storm. No one besides you and Reiki entered his home in my presence."

"Well, during that storm, this woman claimed to have business with Reiki, so she stayed with us that night. I was asleep when she first got there, but when the lightning woke me up, they were discussing something that I couldn't hear because of all the wind and rain. It seemed like they changed the subject when I entered the room. I think she was up to something that she didn't want me to know about."

"Why is it any of your business?" Kisame questioned.

"Because Reiki entrusted all of his businesses and wealth to me. I need to go back to the island to sell them and take my money."

"You don't think this this woman could be connected to your bounty?" Itachi joined the conversation.

"I don't know why she would be." But then I remembered that Kione compared my hair to my mother's. "Well, she knew my mother, but I don't know anything about their relationship."

Itachi became much more involved in our discussion at that point. "If she knew your mother, she might hate you for what you did to her and could want justice after Kumogakure failed to punish you for your crimes." In order to ensure my safety in the Akatsuki, I never corrected them about what really happened to my mother and those other shinobi. I let them think that I was the one who killed them and Mama.

"I feel like Mama would have talked about her if she was important," I argued. "She loved to gossip. Once she started talking about someone, you couldn't get her to shut up."

Itachi continued to support his theory, "That doesn't mean they didn't have a relationship a long time ago. Your mother was older, correct? Kione could have killed Reiki because he supported you despite what you did."

"It's possible. Or she could just want Reiki's money. I set a trap so that I'm the only one who can retrieve it. Besides, the native islanders don't like shinobi. If she wanted to kill me, I feel like she would do it herself or she would die trying. She wouldn't have issued a bounty to kill me." I didn't have much interest in whether Kione issued the bounty or not, even if she did kill Reiki. However, I was very concerned about her taking Reiki's money.

"She might be trying to kill you for the bounty. Either way, this is becoming a problem, Indira," Itachi calmly lectured me like a sensei. "If the wrong people comes after you, it could endanger the Akatsuki. You should be lucky they were not very skilled, or else you would have gotten much worse than a displaced shoulder. We haven't been given a lot of missions lately. You should try to resolve this while you can."

"I'd like to accompany her, Itachi," Kisame added. " I think we deserve a vacation for all of our hard work."

"I think so, too!" I exclaimed in response to Kisame mentioning a vacation. "We might even get there in time for the Amani festival."

Kisame asked, "What's the Amani festival? It sounds like fun."

"It's so much fun!" My mood perked up as I explained the festival to Kisame, "Basically, it's the celebration of a treaty that the native islanders and settlers from the mainland established. About a hundred years ago, the first mainlanders came to Kiawa after centuries of isolation. At first, there was a lot of conflict and fighting. Eventually they were able to settle their differences and work together to form a new village, which is Tomonoura today, and it's been peaceful ever since.

"We celebrate by dressing up and dancing. And, you can't sleep for four days until midnight on the fifth day. Apparently, if you go to sleep while you're celebrating, the evil spirits that caused the fighting can enter your dreams and give you nightmares. I don't dream because of the Babakoto, so I don't ever stay awake. But, a lot of tourists and islanders try to stay awake as long as they can and most bars stay open all night."

"We aren't going on a vacation," Itachi expressed like a parent would. "This is important. Don't get distracted."

"You're no fun," I whined. "I bet that's the real reason why you're so hateful. You don't know how to have a good time. You need to learn how to loosen up a little!"

"We can't afford to play around."

"It's not healthy to worry all the time. That's why I think everyone's so quick to kill each other! Nobody can get a break, so they break someone's neck. If everyone could find the time to relax every once and a while, the world would be a much better place." Itachi just sighed. He either had nothing to say, or he didn't want to waste his breath arguing with me.

* * *

**Check back on August 4th 2014 for the next chapter!**


	5. Berries

Leader approved of our trip since there really wasn't much else for us to do at the time anyway. The Amani festival had already begun when we arrived. Men and women danced in the streets to vibrant music in revealing costumes, and the smell of food and alcohol merged to form one enticing scent. I ended up changing out of my winter clothes into a bright yellow dress myself, though Kisame and Itachi both kept their cloaks. I warned them that it would be as hot as summer on the island, and in response Itachi argued that a dress wouldn't be practical if we engaged in combat despite that I defeated Kisame in a dress. I ignored him and they ignored me.

Instead of staying at my old home or at Reiki's house, we retired at a lively inn that Reiki owned on one of the beaches in Tomonoura. It didn't cost anything to stay in one of the two-bedroom suites since I was apparently the new owner, and we figured it would be the last place our enemy would expect to find us. Not to mention, the loud music and drunken tourists diverted any attention to our awkward-looking team.

Once we were sure that no one was following us, we visited Reiki's house to look for any clues that would suggest that Kione was behind his death. Everything we found hinted that he had been out of the house for several weeks. There was no sign that he was kidnapped or killed at his house. However, someone had been inside of his house between the time he left and the moment we arrived. Kione had probably searched for his fortune.

I was relieved to find all of his money and paperwork associated with his businesses still hidden below the house in a large safe. It was sealed with a jutsu that only I could undo using the Babakoto. I decided that it would be safer to leave it where it was for the time being. She was probably counting on me taking it.

Back at the inn, sleep proved to be difficult with the muffled music playing well into the early hours of the morning. But at almost three o'clock in the morning, something else disturbed me. I could hear someone shuffling around in the kitchen. Still wide awake from the music, I decided that maybe getting out of bed for a moment to check it out might actually help me fall asleep. I wasn't too surprised to find Itachi filling a glass of water, although I was surprised that he wasn't wearing a shirt.

My eyes gave into my primal urges, traveling below his neck to study as much of his bare chest as I could in the dull lighting. This was the first time I'd ever seen him shirtless. Perspiration glistened against his skin, which was barely covering the lean muscle underneath. A strong lust accumulated within me that created a frustrating tension in my lower stomach as I examined his pectorals. When I started talking to him, my gaze kept rising and falling between his face and the top of his pants. "You can hear the music from your room, too?"

"Yes, the dedication of these people is quite remarkable," he replied to me in such a normal human tone. I also retrieved a drink for myself, though I went for the alcohol that I kept in the fridge to help me sleep rather than just water.

"Kiawa islanders will find every excuse they can to drink and dance. I would be out there myself if it weren't for you two." I waved a finger at him accusingly. He ignored my fake gesture and silently sipped on his water. "How's Kisame?"

"He was able to fall asleep fairly early despite the noise."

"Do you want to find another place to stay tomorrow?" I suggested. "Reiki has vacation homes all over the island. We don't have to stay here during the festival."

He obviously took my suggestion into consideration, but his response denied it, "It would be better to stay in the crowd than in a secluded location. It will be more difficult for any spies or bounty hunters to bother us with all of these civilians around. Don't you have any sleeping medications?" I waved my rum in his face, but he refused it, claiming that he didn't drink. I exaggerated my furrowed brows at his rejection.

An odd silence fell over us. It was neither awkward nor uncomfortable, though it didn't seem appropriate at the time. I thought of an interesting topic to fill the emptiness between us, "So, did the jini get you?"

"The what?"

"The jini. I told you about them, they're the spirits that make you have nightmares during the Amani festival. Did they get you yet?" I was sincerely interested in the idea of dreams and nightmares since I couldn't experience them myself, and the stories of the jini that Reiki told me were always amusing.

"You don't honestly believe such things exist?" he asked me with the most expression I'd ever seen on his face. His almost concerned expression was exciting to see.

"Not really, but you can't be sure something is impossible if it hasn't been disproven yet, right?" Unlike most of what I said to him when we weren't talking battle tactics, it seemed like he was actually thinking about what I had said.

The morning after, I was supposed to meet Kione at her home to discuss what to do about the berries for the rum. I brought both Itachi and Kisame along for backup, and Itachi instructed Kisame to stay outside and watch out for anyone who could be watching us. It took a lot of confidence for a native Kian without any formal training to challenge a ninja, so she must've had something big plan if she was behind this. Hopefully she didn't know about my partners' capabilities since I never mentioned them to Reiki in my messages.

Kione's home was located where the river entered the base of the mountains. It took almost a little over an hour to reach her small house from Tomonoura. Kisame waited outside as Itachi instructed him, while Itachi accompanied me inside. Kione's house wasn't too much different than the one Reiki lent to me. He might have owned her house at one point, or built it. It was a lot messier than mine, though, and it held a damp vegetation scent in the walls.

She welcomed us in with a friendly smile. Itachi's Sharingan was activated and I took in everything I could. A dirty glass bowl that contained two small fish caught my attention. One was floating lifelessly on top of the water while the other swam around it in the growing algae. I eyed Itachi, signaling him to watch Kione's chakra.

She invited us to sit at the table around the fish so that we could talk. "I am very sorry for your loss, Indira," she started. "Although all of us were devastated to find out what happened, you seem to have inherited a large responsibility on top of the fortune he left you."

Itachi sat quietly without a word to add to our discussion. I was silent for the most part as well, listening to Kione ramble about Reiki's berries. When I asked her about Reiki, I was kind of distressed when she told me that he had been cremated. She didn't give us any useful information about herself, though, to determine if she really was behind his death. I assumed Itachi was listening more for information about the bounty, but he didn't seem to pick up on anything, either. In order to weed out her true motive, I provoked her by telling her what I was really planning to do. "Even so, I can't really handle all of his businesses in my current situation. I'm going to have to sell them."

She seemed troubled by the thought. "Do you really think that's a good idea? It could really hurt business if you sold to someone who doesn't know the island like he did. Not to mention, it would be bad karma to sell Reiki's work when you're the one he entrusted them to."

"Reiki's dead," I reminded her. "They're mine to sell if I want."

"Then, why don't you allow me to run them in your place for the time being before you decide?"

"You expect me to just give them to you while I'm away?"

"As a matter of fact…" she started as she reached towards the fish.

It all happened so fast. Itachi had his hand at her throat, boring his Sharingan into her eyes, and I yelled Kisame's name. He must have seen something alarming in her chakra. Suddenly my vision became blurry as if I was drunk. My sight quickly darkened, and the last thing I saw was Itachi collapsing onto the floor before I drifted out of consciousness.

* * *

**Check back on August 18th 2014 for the next chapter!**


	6. Jutsu

Something began happening to me that I had never experienced before in my life. I felt as though I was still asleep, but I could see and hear. Was this a genjutsu? I knew it wasn't reality because the lighting and perspective didn't make any sense. It was mostly dark with the exception of tiny slivers of highly contrasting light, and sometimes I could see things that I shouldn't have been able to from my vantage point.

The sounds didn't make sense, either. My hearing was selective, only focusing on certain sounds like the cawing of crows and voices. I followed the voices to the end of a dark corridor where I found a large closed door. Time also didn't make any sense. My movement seemed normal until there was a gap of time that was lost resulting in a change of scenery.

This happened when I entered the room behind the door. I never saw myself open the door and walk into the room. I just appeared in the room. I was kneeling on one knee, bowing to the sources of the voices. It wasn't clear what they were saying because there were multiple voices from three or more people that ran together, making it sound like nonsense. I could still see them even though I was looking down at the floor. They were all very old with three men and one woman.

There were a few words that I caught in the jumbled echoes, such as "Uchiha", "protect", and "Konoha." Rather than trying to listen to them, I focused on my appearance while I looked down. I noticed that my skin did not hold the dark golden tan that I acquired through genetics and extensive sun worshipping. The skin I was looking down at on my arms was so light that it glowed. The fingers on my hands were unusually thicker than my bony hands. The hair hanging in front of my face was straight, not wavy, and I seemed to have bangs. The last time I had bangs was five years ago when I was sixteen. And, I wore heavy armor that never would have fit me. In fact, it looked like Anbu armor from Konoha.

Then, I heard one word that stuck out from all the rest. "Sasuke," one of the voices whispered. _Sasuke?_ I thought to myself. _ Is that a name? Who is Sasuke?_ Then, I felt sad all of a sudden. At first it was subtle, but then the despair grew into a sharp pain in my chest. Why was I so upset about a word that held no meaning?

Next thing I knew, Kisame was calling out Itachi's name, "Itachi! Hey, Itachi!" My eyes fluttered open to see Kisame hovering over me. "What happened, Itachi? How did you fall for such a lowly trick?" He looked like he was talking to me since he was staring right at my face, but he kept saying Itachi's name. I thought maybe he was just talking to Itachi while he was checking to see if I was okay.

In a groggy tone I asked Kisame "So Kione got Itachi with her jutsu, too?"

"What's with the third person speech?" he asked, still looking at me. "Did you hit your head or something? Whatever she did, it must have been a powerful jutsu. Lucky for you two, she had no idea I was here."

I narrowed my eyes at him in confusion. "Third person?"

Then, for the first time in about two years I heard my sister's voice, "No, Kisame." I propped myself into a sitting position and rubbed my eyes as she explained, "She just injected her chakra into those fish. It must have triggered an airborne poison to knock us unconscious. Although I don't know why it didn't affect you, Kisame." Her tone sounded so strange. It was oddly monotonous and masculine. But, why was she even here? Not to mention, I knew that she was not ignorant to the type of jutsu Kione had used. She would have known what kind of jutsu Kione used if she had seen it.

When I looked up to her, I suddenly felt strange. It was the same feeling I had the night before when I saw Itachi shirtless, only it wasn't as intense. I was _attracted_ to her.

No. That couldn't be possible. She was an attractive woman, but I'd never been attracted to my sister. Maybe I was just upset from seeing her for the first time in years. I convinced myself that had to be what caused this odd feeling.

When she looked up at me, she stared at me in shock. "What are you doing here?" I asked her.

"He must have hit his head hard when he collapsed," Kisame said to my twin, though she kept staring at me. Kione must have set this up. Maybe her jutsu transported her. "You'll probably have to take a look at him later." When Kisame turned to her, a somewhat worried expression took over his face. "What's wrong, Indri? You look like you've seen a ghost."

She finally looked away from me to turn to Kisame instead. "You just called me Indri?"

"I'm Indri, Kisame," I corrected him. "That's Hanini, my twin sister. Kione must have teleported her here with a jutsu or something. Where's Itachi?" I stood up while Hanini kept staring at me as she lay on her stomach, using her arms to prop up her torso. For some reason I felt much taller. I noticed something else that was odd. Hanini was wearing my dress, and it exposed a unique tattoo of a sea turtle in the middle of her back that looked just like mine with the same colors and artistic style. The whole reason I got that tattoo was to distinguish my body from my sister's after I returned to Kiawa. She never even knew I had gotten it.

She seemed to compose herself as we both realized what was really going on. That really wasn't Hanini lying on the floor. It was Itachi. "This seems to be a special kind of mind-transfer jutsu," Itachi explained through my lips, picking himself up. "Kione switched Indira and me so that we couldn't fight."

I sighed, pulling the long bangs from my face. How did he fight all the time with them in his eyes? I could barely see. Everything was so blurry. Kisame's eyes blended like two black orbs and I couldn't even see the green in Itachi's eyes…or I guess I should say _my_ eyes. They were so blurry. And, I was sweating like a goddamn pig. The heat forced me to pull off his coat and headband. I untied his hair to pull it up into a tighter bun on top of his head to cool off his neck. As I did this, I complained to him about his body, "I'm so fucking hot. How did you even see what Kione did? I can't see a fucking thing. You need to stop using your Sharingan so damn much."

"Focus, Indira," he scolded me. "I saw Kione inject her chakra into the fish. You said the people of Kiawa don't practice jutsu. Not only was that a jutsu, it was something I had never seen before."

"I never said that," I corrected him. "I said we don't have shinobi. I never said we don't use jutsu."

"So what is it?" asked Kisame.

"Wait, before that, where is Kione? We need her alive to undo the jutsu and to tell us where Reiki is." Kisame motioned to a lifeless body lying on the floor in a puddle of blood. "Way to go, Kisame. You just caused us more problems than you solved."

"No one instructed me to hold back," Kisame responded.

I sighed again. While we collected ourselves, I explained to Itachi and Kisame the jutsu that Kione used on us with a history lesson. "In order to protect the island from natural disasters like typhoons and to find food easier, native Kians began experimenting with chakra and jutsu. Chakra alone wasn't enough to stop these disasters from destroying their homes, though. So, they discovered this technique similar to sage jutsu.

"They tried to use the natural power that exists in all nature as well as their own chakra. But, they weren't able to absorb the natural power into their bodies like sages. So, rather than extracting the energy from nature, they figured out how to manipulate natural energy by injecting their own chakra into objects. They also figured out that combining different objects with different types of natural power would create different effects. So, it became a new jutsu native to Kiawa that they called uchawi.

"Now, it's used as a tourist attraction in Tomonoura. Some natives claim that they can use this jutsu, but really they just fake it to scam tourists out of their money. They claim that it can predict the future, ensure good luck, make people fall in love, all that kind of stuff. Before mainlanders settled here, those who could perform uchawi often became kings and queens because it's so difficult to learn. They use animals sometimes, like that fish, to counter jutsu that go wrong. Kione must have been trained since she was a child to successfully pull off this jutsu, even though this looks like a pretty simple one."

Itachi, seeming genuinely interested in this jutsu, asked, "Is your kekkei genkai a result of this jutsu, Indira?"

I was surprised at his sudden interest in my kekkei genkai since I never had any interest in it myself except to get rid of it. "According Mama, yes. Anyway, just leave the body here. Anyone who finds her will probably just think it was an animal attack. An actual animal will probably find her before any human does. Kisame, scrape the door and the floor with Samehada to mimic claw marks." Kisame couldn't keep himself from laughing about Itachi's girly voice before he actually listened to me and followed my orders.

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**Check back on September 1st 2014 for the next chapter!**


	7. Control

Despite Itachi's abstinence from alcohol, I drank that night to sleep easier through the festival's music. He asked me not to, but my half-drunken response was, "A couple of drinks _one_ night in your life is _not_ going to kill you. Besides, you should be more concerned about your eyes than your liver." Kisame couldn't handle my expressive tone in Itachi's voice. He laughed and made snarky comments frequently that I eventually learned to ignore.

When I finally got to sleep, those visions and sounds from earlier appeared again. I kept hearing _Sasuke_ and another word popped up along with it, _Shisui_, that upset me. Now, I had heard of Shisui. I knew him as one of the most powerful Uchihas from Konoha, and I knew he was somehow related to Itachi. Itachi's actions must have still haunted him even though he didn't seem to have any remorse. Those names made me so upset that I woke up some time in the dark hours of the morning. The clock said it was twenty past four, though I could still hear music from the festival.

With barely any alcohol left in Itachi's body, I once again had trouble getting back to sleep. I crawled out of bed to drink more only to find an empty bottle in the trashcan. I cursed until I remembered that there were bars still open on the beach next to the inn. I tied Itachi's hair back in his usual style and went to change shirts. I then realized that I didn't even have to wear a shirt. We were at the beach, and I was trapped in a male's body, so it was socially acceptable to walk around bare-chested.

Then, an interesting thought came to me. Maybe it would be better to stay like this. I wouldn't have to deal with period cramps, or periods at all. I wasn't freezing in the cool morning breeze that usually sent me shivering under a blanket. I wouldn't have to wax every hair on my body below my neck. And even though I had these blurry eyes, I was finally rid of the Babakoto. Any medical ninja could easily heal these eyes. I'm sure I could myself. Also, I wouldn't have to worry about the bounty on my head, and I could easily hide from anyone who pursued Itachi on Kiawa or the surrounding islands.

The more I thought about it, the better my idea sounded. I found an empty seat at a bar a couple buildings over from the inn. As I sipped on a girly drink, I tried my best to at least sound masculine when I spotted a few women who were trying to seem as though they weren't staring at me. I couldn't deny that Itachi had a great body. It was only natural they would be attracted to him.

Putting on my best masculine tone, I approached them and bought them drinks while asking them about themselves. A short, drunk blonde instantly attached herself to me, telling me everything I didn't need to know about herself. I avoided any questions they asked me. We were having a really great time. I even took them down to the beach to watch the sunrise with our drinks. At one point, the blonde fell asleep on Itachi's shoulder while we sat in the sand, but then a monotonous version of my sister's voice woke her up.

"Indri, what are you doing out here?" Itachi scolded me. "This isn't the time to be fooling around."

"Who is that?" the blonde asked, drowsy from the drinks I bought her.

"Just my cousin," I answered as I helped them stand up. "I'm very sorry, ladies. But, I have something really important to discuss with her. It was lovely meeting you all." I kissed each one on the cheek before they left reluctantly.

I hardly paid any attention to him as I made my way back to the bar. Itachi followed me. "Indri, this is serious. You don't have time to drink and flirt. You need to rest so you can fight without your kekkei genkai if we're attacked again. We have to train to fight using each other's jutsu until we can find someone to undo this jutsu. Is there anyone you can think of? If Kione was trained as a child, someone had to train her."

I asked the bartender for another drink before replying, "She's old enough that whoever taught her is probably dead. You know, I'm sure Reiki would've known someone if he was alive."

"Are you really so sure Reiki is dead?" asked Itachi. "You haven't seen his body."

I challenged his theory with, "There's no reason she would keep him alive. He would've been an unnecessary burden."

"Not if she was planning on using him to threaten someone."

"You still think she was after my bounty?" I asked him doubtfully.

"Why else would she use a jutsu to switch us, preventing you from using the Babakoto to retrieve the money for her?"

I raised his own eyebrows at him and smirked at him. "You look like me, and now you're starting to think like me. But there is much more money in that case than the bounty is offering, so she would still want it even if she killed me for the bounty."

"Then, she would need access to someone with the Babakoto to retrieve the money from the case after she killed you. And if she had access to your sister to get the money for her, what's to stop your sister from taking it for herself and killing Kione?"

"Then, I guess you could be right about Reiki still being alive." Itachi's theory started to make sense. Kione would've had to make sure that I actually got the money out of the safe before she switched Itachi and me. "My sister is much more emotional than I am. It's possible Kione could have kept Reiki alive to threaten Nini so she would have to retrieve the money from his house for her."

It didn't really matter anymore since Kione was dead. But, if Reiki was alive, that meant I wasn't entitled to his money or businesses. If he had been anyone else, I would've use the opportunity to kill him myself and take his money, but it didn't change the fact that I really did care about him, considering he was the only one who I could count on after what happened to Mama. That, and I was too lazy to go through all the trouble just for several billion ryo when I had enough myself. Itachi's theory was worth looking into.

Itachi watched me sip on my drink until I raised an eyebrow at him and asked, "What?"

"You really need to stop drinking," he nagged.

"Oh god," I muttered in response, rolling his eyes and taking a large swig at his suggestion.

"At least while you're in my body, I would appreciate it if you wouldn't drink."

"Fine." I slid the drink over to him. "If you don't drink it, I will. I'm not letting this go to waste." He sighed at my persuasion and sipped on the glass. "It's healthier than it seems. This bar uses fruit grown only on the island."

I smiled when he replied, "That is good. But, it would be just as good without the alcohol. I don't understand the appeal."

"Personally, I blame the Babakoto and my mom," I explained to him. "Now that I'm in your head and I don't have the Babakoto, all my memories are really fuzzy except for really important ones. I don't even remember traveling back from Kione's house hardly. It's like there's blank spots in my memory, even though I know it happened. But, with the Babakoto, I remember literally everything I see and hear. I remember every detail of everything no matter how long ago it was. All of my memories are so vivid and clear. With the Babakoto, it's like a film in a camera rolling constantly in my head, and I can always go back to it to remember anything I've seen."

"I noticed when we first switched," said Itachi. "It's quite overwhelming."

I nodded to agree with him. "Yeah. But, when I drink, my memory becomes like yours normally, fuzzy and full of holes from unimportant information." I turned to look at him, twirling a straw in his hands. "There are some things that I don't want to remember, and alcohol helps me forget them. Also, I think it runs in the family. When I was teething, Mama would rub rum or sake on my gums. And whenever I had a cold, she would give me tea with lemon and a tiny bit of rum, and it would clear me up right away."

Itachi didn't say anything after that. We both drank silently until I felt like we had been quiet for long enough. "So, how do I activate the Sharingan?" I asked him after finishing my last drink.

He didn't seem to mind teaching me his technique, "Try swirling a small amount of chakra behind my eyes clockwise."

I did as he told me, focusing on the current of chakra behind his eyes. All of a sudden, Itachi's eyes stung real badly, like a loose eyelash had gotten into them. They automatically snapped shut, and I rubbed them in response to the pain, releasing the chakra from his eyes. "Don't rub at them," Itachi corrected me softly, using my hand to pull me away from his eyes. I blinked several times before I could fully open his eyes again. "You used too much chakra. You activated the Mangekyo Sharingan. I'm impressed. I didn't expect you could even activate them."

"What the fuck is wrong with your eyes? Does it really hurt like this every time you use them?" His nose was sniffling from the sensitive nerves behind his eyes as I talked.

"It hurts because you used too much chakra. You should go back to the inn so you can rest. You'll be tired…Ah!" he exclaimed, interrupting himself. He grabbed at my head, seemingly in pain from one of my migraines.

"You alright?" I asked.

"My head feels as though it was struck with a hammer," he grunted through my teeth.

"Here, let me take a look at it." I reached out to massage my own head to relieve some of the pain for him, but he shocked me when I touched him. "Ow!" There was electricity leaking from my skin. Knowing that energy was actually leaking out of my body really concerned me.

"Listen, we have to find Hanini. You can't control the Babakoto, so we'll have to try to get her to help you. But first, let's go back to the room to get some pain reliever. Then, we'll get Kisame and go find Nini." My conscience felt much stronger all of a sudden. Any other time, I would have just let Itachi suffer and ran away, but I actually felt bad for him, probably because I knew exactly what kind of pain he was experiencing. I figured I could at least help him control my kekkei genkai until we found Reiki.

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**Check back on September 15th 2014 for the next chapter!**


	8. Excuses

Locating Hanini wasn't difficult. She had plenty of friends all over the island that frequently interacted with her. She never faired very well alone ever since we were young, especially without me, so she was pretty good at making sure there was always someone available for her to be with. They directed us to a large street performance that she was scheduled to dance in on the forth day of the festival.

In the crowd of dancers behind a bright yellow building there was a petite woman with golden skin dressed in brightly colored feathers. Even in ridiculously high heels, she only stood half a head shorter than Itachi so that I had to look down on her. Then, I saw her piercing green eyes narrow violently when she turned towards us and noticed Itachi in my body, an exact copy of herself. The only differences were the untattooed skin on her back, and that she had chopped off most of her dark brown hair which altered her round face to look slightly shorter and sharper than mine.

She stared down Itachi as we approached her, not even acknowledging Kisame and me. Luckily she didn't meet Itachi when we took our chunin exams, so she didn't recognize his face. I always had to hide my crushes from her growing up. "What the hell are you doing here?" she asked him.

For the first time in years, I spoke to her through Itachi's voice, "We need your help. My partner and I were switched with a mind transfer jutsu, and he can't control the Babakoto."

Her mouth opened out of confusion before turning to me, and then back to Itachi. "Please forgive me for my rudeness. I am so sorry that Indri pulled you into whatever it is she's scheming. I'll help you however I can," she apologized to him softly. She was much more sympathetic than myself. Unlike me, she gladly went out of her way for anyone who needed her help without hesitation. She hadn't changed very much in two years. She looked at me again with anger returning to her face. "And I'm not doing it for you. I'll only help so he won't have to put up with your ass longer than he has to. What are you even doing that got you into this?"

"I'm just making a little extra money."

"By taking on illegal missions against the shinobi nations?" she accused me of being an active rogue ninja.

"No, actually, this happened right here on the island. A woman tried to steal from Reiki by using uchawi. We were protecting him when she used it on us." I stretched the truth slightly in the hopes that she would correct me if she knew about Reiki's whereabouts.

"Whatever," she said, waving her hands expressively. Apparently she didn't know anything about what happened recently to him. She was too affectionate to just brush him off like that if she knew he was dead or in danger. "Can this wait until after the dance?"

"Electricity was leaking out of his skin earlier. We need you to at least check him." She sighed and took his hand to make sure the energy was stable. He flinched back slightly, probably from her conducting her own electricity in his skin.

"He's fine. The energy is stable in his head now." She talked to me with such hostility in her voice, but then softened her tone to a more friendly voice to talk to Itachi, even smiling at him, "Just try not to think too much. The more activity that goes on in your brain, the more it likes to bother you." She instructed us to wait for her until after the performance. From there, she would meet up with us to discuss what happened further.

I led Kisame and Itachi out into the crowd in front of the street. "This aught to be interesting, Itachi," Kisame commented. "The tension between those two could cut glass. Now, that's a fight I wouldn't mind watching."

"I'm not going to fight my sister," I told Kisame. "Once we're switched back, she can go on living her life and things will go back to normal for us as well."

"She might have an idea of where Reiki is if he's alive," Itachi added. "She might at least know someone who could undo the jutsu." Before I could respond, I heard someone calling my sister's name from the crowd.

"Nini! Over here, Nini!" A short, brown-skinned man came hopping through the crowd to Itachi. "Babe, shouldn't you be getting ready? You only have a few minutes."

Itachi seemed to be at a loss for what to say, so I responded for him. "Oh, this isn't Hanini. This is her sister, Indri."

"Oh!" he exclaimed awkwardly. The man shuffled around a little bit, seeming to try to compose himself. He looked a bit skittish and unsure of himself, keeping his arms close to his body when he learned that the girl he was talking to was not Hanini. He must have either been a friend or her boyfriend. Judging by the tone in his voice I guessed he was her boyfriend. In that case, Hanini would have most likely complained to him about me at some point so that he would think that I was a terrible person.

Itachi took on my role with such ease, "Excuse me, but who are you?"

"Oh, I'm Nini's fiancé, Toru." _Fiancé?_ I thought to myself. I was a little disappointed in Hanini. This man wasn't bad looking, but he was a little too average for my taste. He had short brown hair and bland brown eyes, and an average build with an average face. He wasn't toned by any means, and was much too shy. Hanini could have done much better. "She told me about you, but I didn't think I would ever meet you."

Itachi replied with a fake smile, "Wait, so Nini is in the performance? I just came here to watch. I guess running into you two was inevitable, though, since we live in the same village." I had to hand it to Itachi, his response sounded a lot like me. He pulled off my dynamic personality quite well for someone so static.

"Well, it's nice to meet you," Toru awkwardly responded. He stood with us during the performance, trying to hide his intimidation by focusing on Hanini. However, he didn't have to worry about me for too long.

Halfway through the performance, the whole crowd burst into a roar as a bystander was struck with an arrow right next to Itachi. Rather than running with the dispersed crowd, we quickly tried to analyze what had happened to the civilian. Itachi looked around for the source of the arrow while I took a look at the victim to examine the arrow in his upper arm. Fortunately Kisame brought Samehada along despite the stares, and he used it to cover us. Toru also hung around, taking cover behind Kisame.

"Get out of here, Toru," I ordered him to leave. "Go to Hanini behind the building. You'll be fine. They're after us, not you." He nodded and fled to Hanini who was also trying to evaluate the situation.

He tried to get her to leave with him, but she stubbornly refused. She really hadn't changed very much. Instead of going with him, she ran to us while yelling at me, "What the hell did you get into, Indri?" Toru reluctantly followed her, but kept his distance by once again hiding behind Kisame. Hanini didn't hesitate to begin applying pressure to the victim's wound.

"I'll explain later. But that won't do any good. The arrow's poisoned. It looks like it comes from Showa Island north of Kiawa. He'll die before we can find an antidote." The people of Showa were still in conflict with some other islands and didn't have the natural defenses of the ocean current and reefs for protection, so they were exceptionally skilled in ambushes, long-ranged weaponry, and creating poisons. They might have been even better at mixing poisons than Sasori and me.

Several other arrows were fired at us from a different direction than the first, but Kisame was able to block all of them. Itachi didn't rush out to find them, though. He kept his distance to analyze the situation further, staying close to us. I stood beside Itachi to also try to see where they were and how many. There must have been at least three archers. Hanini was too concerned about the victim to bother helping us. "If we extract the poison, he might have a chance. Help me get the arrow out."

"Hanini, now's not the time!"

"Do it or I'm not helping your partner!" she threatened me.

Itachi turned to me to say, "We can handle them for a little while, Indri." I rolled his eyes at both of them and helped Hanini apply a tourniquet to pull the arrow out of the man's shoulder. However, I made her extract the poison on her own while I helped Kisame and Itachi find the archers. They could only handle two of them since the archers were so spread out, and Itachi wouldn't let Kisame use his massive jutsu around Hanini.

I found two more archers on rooftops across the street. They shot arrows at me that I was able to dodge as I ran to them. They started running when they realized that they couldn't hit me so easily. They used blades on their bows to try to keep me from reaching them, but it didn't work for very long. The people of Showa weren't trained in combat as well as the mainland, so I was able to defeat them only using taijutsu.

I killed one of them, but left the other alive for questioning. Kisame and Itachi were already done with their opponents who they kept alive to interrogate as well. Itachi signaled me to leave the area before authorities arrived, and I signaled Hanini to follow us. She instructed Toru to leave the area while she dealt with us.

The four of us met at the top of a secluded lighthouse by the river north of Tomonoura with our prisoners late that afternoon. Kisame stood by a light switch as Itachi and I tied the archers to the railing. Since I couldn't use Itachi's Sharingan to torture them with genjutsu, I disabled the electric powered light and wired the switch to the metal railing. Hanini refused to help other than to look after the Babakoto for Itachi. Before I could question them, Hanini began questioning me first. "What the fuck is going on, Indri? You better tell me if you expect me to help you!"

"Fine," I replied. I explained to her about the spies who were following me, and made up a story that they were bounty hunters who I traced back to the mainland. I lied about Itachi and Kisame, who I introduced to her as Deidara and Samehada, and that they were rogue ninja who helped me in exchange for helping them on missions. Then, I told her everything about the bounty, Reiki, and Kione.

"I thought you said you were protecting him," she remembered what I had said earlier to her about our situation. Now that she knew Reiki was in danger, she was much more willing to cooperate. Reiki was also very close to her when she was a child, and even visited her occasionally when she came back to Kiawa after our mother's death.

"I had to condense the story. That, and it's really weird thinking with Deidara's brain. I don't think as clearly without the Babakoto. Anyway, we need to hurry before someone notices us." We turned to the archers who were in our custody. They were all very fit males with dark skin, ranging in height from average to very tall. One of them couldn't have been older than seventeen.

Out of the four of us, I did most of the questioning. "Okay, I'll make this very simple," I began the interrogation. "You tell us who sent you after us, and none of you get fried. How does that sound?" They all looked at me as if I was speaking to them in another language. Some of the more isolated islands did use their own languages, but I knew for a fact that the Showa people spoke the same as everyone on the mainland and the major islands. I nodded to Kisame to flip the light on.

The men's bodies shook violently with the current of electricity flowing through them. They couldn't even scream. I waited a few moments to tell Kisame to cut the light off. "Well?" All of them were breathing heavily, so I waited for them to catch their breath before I turned to Kisame again.

Before he flipped the switch, though, the younger one yelled out, "Wait! It was that man! The man with her." He nodded in Hanini's direction. Her eyes widened at the accusation against her lover. "He promised us twenty-million if we brought him your head and the girl's." Again he nodded to point, but to Itachi this time. "Please! My mother's very sick. I just needed the money! Please forgive me!"

"That wasn't so hard, was it?" I responded.

Hanini cut me off to order the young man, "Give us a name!" He turned to the other two men who looked at him accusingly, then he turned back to us with a horrified expression. Kisame flipped the switch without me signaling him, which I didn't mind, but Hanini freaked out. "Stop! Stop!" she yelled at Kisame. Once Kisame switched it off, Hanini held the young man's face to hers. "Listen, I've known him for almost two years. He was born and raised in the islands. He couldn't have! He's never even met Indri!"

The man closed his eyes to stop himself from crying, and then he looked into Hanini's eyes with guilt in his face. "He said that he goes by Toru, but his real name is Oshosi Sakakibara. He said that if we were successful in killing him and your sister, that he would give us even more to kill you." She stood up quietly without a word, seemingly thinking to herself. He then turned to me and pleaded, "That's all I know. I swear! He never told us why he wanted us to kill you!"

"Did he mention anything about a woman named Kione or a man named Reiki?" I asked him.

"Yes," he answered immediately. "He said that we were to wait until Kione used a jutsu on you to make it easier to kill you, but she would probably die in the process. And that he was going to use that Reiki man to make her find his money." He nodded to Hanini again to point to her.

"I guess you were right about Kione being connected with the bounty," I told Itachi before turning my attention back to the young man. "Did he say anything else about Reiki? If he was alive or dead?"

He didn't hesitate anymore to answer my questions, "No. Just that he would use him."

I crossed my arms over my chest and sighed. After a moment of thinking about what the young archer had told us, I asked Kisame, "Would you like to take care of them for us?"

"With pleasure," he responded, lifting his sword as he approached them. They all pleaded him to stop, but then Hanini stepped in front of Kisame. "What is it?" he asked her.

She stood in his way to protect them. "You don't have to kill them. They know they're no match for any of you. They won't threaten you again."

"Hanini!" I yelled at her. "We can't trust them to leave us alone or leak information about us! You know we can't leave them alive! You can't be so soft towards the enemy!"

"I'm not a ninja anymore, Indri! I won't help you with that jutsu if you don't let these men go! I can take care of Toru and Reiki without you!" She again threatened us with her help.

"Hanini!" I yelled again.

Itachi interrupted our argument, "If it makes her feel better, Indira, it shouldn't do any harm to let them go. The great nations don't really bother with islands, and like she said, they know they can't defeat us. Besides, if the wrong person discovers their bodies, it could lead them to us."

I shook my head at him, "You and your excuses." But, I sighed giving into my sister. "Fine. We'll let them go." All of the men thanked us as we untied them and instructed them to leave Kiawa as soon as possible. They expressed their fear that Toru would send someone after them for failing and giving us information, but Hanini reassured them that she would take care of everything.

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**Sorry I submitted this chapter late! I'm actually working on making a life, and Mondays and Wednesdays I have class from 9am until 8pm. Anyway _Fish_ will be coming to an end pretty soon. I'm looking at just 12 chapters, so the last chapter should be released on November 3rd. I hope y'all have enjoyed it so far.**

**Check back on September 30th for the next chapter!**


	9. Revenge

Hanini stormed into the traditional seaside mansion that she shared with Toru. It was then that I realized why she fell for him. He was richer than me, maybe more than Reiki. That also explained how he was able to issue a hit on me at twenty million ryo. I was slightly delighted to know that my sister still shared the same greed for material possessions and money as I did despite her caring nature. When she found him in the kitchen, she slapped him and shoved him onto the floor. "You put a hit on my sister and then planned one on me, too?" she shouted her accusation more than she asked, but it was a question.

"Nini, no! I…" It was too late. Hanini continued beating him without even bothering to use the Babakoto, preventing him from answering her. I would have killed him right there, but I was too entertained seeing Hanini in this state after years of her hating me. Kisame was also enjoying the show, judging by his smile.

"I knew something wasn't right about your story!" she screamed at him as he tried to crawl away. She kicked him some more before continuing, "You talk just like a mainlander, and you're too fucking fat!"

"Nini!" he shouted. "Reiki's alive! Reiki's alive! I can tell you where he is!"

"What?" she stopped, pulling on his shirt to lift him. "Where is he? You tell me where he is now!" She kicked him one more time. She treated him as if she had never loved him. It was probably his money that she loved.

"I'll tell you! I tell you!" he repeated himself. "I'll tell you…_if_ you kill your sister. I can't do it. I don't have the skills. But you can now that she doesn't have her power."

"What? Are you really asking me to kill my sister for you?"

"You don't understand! She killed my sister! She killed your mother and all those people in Kumogakure! She'll kill you too if you don't kill her first!" He begged her to take revenge on me for him. As she was contemplating what she was just asked to do, I tried to think of who I killed who could have been his sister. It was so difficult trying to remember my own memories in Itachi's brain. I kept seeing images that didn't belong to me of that little boy from his dreams and Shisui, but none of my own memories. I felt like I recognized Toru's real name, Sako…Sako-something. I couldn't even remember his name after only several hours!

I had to rely on Hanini's memory, "Nini, what was his name? His real name?"

Rather than just telling me, she threatened him to tell me himself. She actually didn't have to threaten him, though, as he proudly told me his name and his story. "I want you to remember who I am, Indira Kaikea. I am Oshosi Sakakibara. My sister was Azusa Sakakibara. She was a shinobi of Takigakure, but I took on my family's position in politics to inherit my family's fortune instead of training to become a ninja. You and your team were ordered by the Raikage to kill her because she had become a rogue ninja, and was actively committing crimes in the Land of Lightning against Kumogakure. She may have been a rogue ninja, but she was still my sister! And, you killed her!"

Once he told us his story, I could finally remember where I'd heard his name. One of the missions I was assigned to while I was still a shinobi of Kumo required me to stop an extremely dangerous rogue kunoichi from stealing very important lightning scrolls with her gang. She was on the level of some of the lower Akatsuki members, so we couldn't take her into custody. We ended up killing her in the process along with two of our own team members. Hanini had been assigned to another mission as a medical ninja at the time. Over the two years between that mission and my mother's death, the other teammates who accompanied me on the mission and survived were killed off from different deaths at different times. But when my mother died, the village linked her death to theirs and blamed me.

It was Toru all along. He hired shinobi to kill them and set me up. I'm not sure if he killed Mama, but he definitely framed me for the murder of my teammates. I couldn't say that to Hanini in front of Kisame and Itachi, though. They had to know that I killed my mother and those people so that I didn't seem like I was still secretly working for Kumogakure. So, I ordered them to leave, "Can you two give us a minute? I think we can handle this. Guard the house in case he called for bodyguards."

As soon as they left, I took a knife from the kitchen counter and pointed it at him saying, "You killed them, and you framed me."

"No," he denied it. "Nini, don't listen to her. She killed them! And she killed your mother, too!" She looked at me with a blank face. I really couldn't tell what she was thinking at this point. I used to be able to read everything on her mind, but I couldn't rely on my instinct after the past several years of separation.

"No," she responded, turning back to him. "She didn't. I was with her during the first and second murder. There was no way she could have done it. I know because that's why the village accused me along with her. You framed my sister. You tore us apart for two years! And you killed our mother!" She began attacking him again, and I had to pull her off of him.

Toru kept repeating, "I'm going to kill him! I'm going to kill Reiki!"

"Where is he?" she shouted again in my restraint.

"Nini! Calm down. Think of Reiki. Listen, we can't let Deidara and Samehada know that he had those people killed. They have to think that I'm a real rogue ninja or else they might think I was sent by Kumo to spy on them. Now, there must have been something he's done or said to hint where Reiki is."

"Wait here," something I said must have triggered a memory, and she left me alone with Toru. She came back moments later with a dirty white shirt. She held it up to me and said, "Smell this."

The shirt held a strong scent of sulfur lingering in the fabric. She went on to tell me, "He left the other day to go out with some friends, and he didn't have time to wash this because I made him go out with me. He had plenty of time to go to Mt. Moto and back. In fact, he was gone almost exactly how long it would take to get there and back."

Mt. Moto was the one active volcano on the island. It was the perfect place to hide a captured prisoner because nobody lived around the volcano for kilometers, not even the natives who lived in small villages closer to the mountain. And it was almost inaccessible without a horse or native guide.

"There are dungeons built in the caves where the natives used to keep captured settlers during the conflict," I said to her, then turned to Toru. "How much you wanna bet Reiki's there?" Toru glared at me, hinting that I was right.

I prayed that Reiki would be alright until we got to him. Itachi wouldn't let Hanini and me leave that night without resting first, so we set up shifts to watch Toru. I was on the second-to-last shift after Itachi watching Toru sleep on the couch. Hanini refused to let him sleep in a bed even though there were enough rooms. About an hour into my shift, I could sense someone else's presence outside the house. I left Toru alone sleeping while I went to the back door to check it out. I kept my guard up especially towards Toru to make sure he didn't try anything while I was outside.

I took a few steps outside to try to see in the light of the full moon. Itachi's eyes were so blurry, I could see hardly anything that I would have been able to see clearly with my own eyes. I was startled by a large cat with a bell around its neck when it jumped down from the roof and came inside the house, meowing at me as it passed. Nini was very fond of animals so it only made sense to me that she would have at least a cat. Actually, I was surprised there weren't any dogs around, too. I simply shrugged it off and turned around to go back inside knowing that it was the cat that I had sensed.

As I stepped inside the doorway, something stung me in the back of Itachi's shoulder. At first, I thought it was a large mosquito until I reached behind me out of habit to swat at it only to find a dart stuck into his skin. The only thing I could do before blacking out from the poison was to scream Hanini's name. I kept screaming her name until I lost my vision completely and Itachi's body gave into the poison.

* * *

**Sorry I've been slacking so hard lately. Again, I had class all day on Monday and I was in the darkroom printing for my photo project until like 9pm last night. I was dead. There will only be several more chapters after this. This won't be a long story. I'm looking to end it on November 3rd or 10th.**

**Check back on October 13th 2014 for the next chapter!**

**...if I have time.**


	10. Sisters

I woke up to Hanini shouting at me and slapping me in the face. It was difficult to breathe when I first opened Itachi's eyes, though I gained my strength back pretty quickly when I remembered what happened to me. Damn his eyes. I hadn't made a mistake like that since I was a chunin in Kumogakure. "What happened? Where's Toru?" Hanini was squatting over me, checking my pulse to see if I was all right.

"Some more archers from Showa Island helped him escape," she answered. "Deidara and Samehada went after them while I took care of you. They knocked you out with a really lethal poison. I was able to cancel it out, though, with an even stronger poison that I have an antidote for." I tried to stand up, but she stopped me. "Lay down, Indri!" she yelled at me like our mother used to when we were children. "You need to rest! I still can't give you the antidote! It'll take about twelve hours for this poison to clear the other one, and by that time you'll be experiencing symptoms from it. You'll speed up the process if you're moving around and fighting, and it might not work. I can handle this with your team. Just stay here!"

She explained her method of healing like she had forgotten that we studied medicine together all those years ago. I made a face at her before I shoved her out of the way so I could stand.

"Move," I barked at her, hurrying to catch up to my team.

There were plenty of horse ranches on the island that catered to tourists who wanted to ride horses on the beaches or in the mountains. We were lucky enough that there happened to be one right along the way to Mt. Moto where we stole a couple of horses to get there much faster than we could on foot.

At one point during the two hours it took to get to the mountain, Hanini confided in me loudly so I could hear her clearly over the galloping of the horses, "Listen, I'm sorry I doubted you all this time. I was just so angry at Kumogakure for accusing me of murdering those people, especially Mama, and I took it out on you because I thought you had something to do with it. You were always talking about how much you hated Kumo and you wish you could just leave. I thought it was a scheme of yours to get out of the village that you dragged me into."

"Whatever," I responded to her apathetically. "Do you honestly think I would bring Mama's death into one of my schemes? I'm actually not that heartless."

With her apology, it felt like a weight had been lifted off both of us, and the air seemed much lighter between us. Now that Kisame and Itachi were gone, I felt obligated to tell her the truth about the Akatsuki. Before Mama's death, I could trust Nini with anything I told her, even top-secret missions. Now that she forgave me, I could finally open up to her.

"There's something I need to tell you, too," I began. "I lied to you about my partners, and the spies that were following me. I couldn't tell you the truth in front of them, or else you would've ended up in the same situation as me. Anyway, you've heard of both of them. Can you promise me you won't freak out if I tell you who they really are?"

"I'll honor any promises you make me keep for at least two years to make up for everything."

"You're gonna have to do much more than that!" I smirked before continuing. "Their real names are Itachi Uchiha and Kisame Hoshigake."

Her jaw dropped in shock. I could even hear a little gasp over the beating of the horses' hooves before she said with a hint of anger, "You're shitting me right now!"

"They threatened me into working for an organization called the Akatsuki that accepts missions without the control of a village, or even a nation. They also kill jinchuriki to collect biju. It's basically an organization of missing ninja. The leader has a bigger purpose that they haven't told me about yet. Late last June, they spied on you and me for a couple weeks to evaluate our abilities, but they couldn't really evaluate us since we never used our abilities. They came to me first to ask how to persuade you to join, and I made a deal with them that if I could defeat Kisame, they had to leave you alone."

Nini stopped me to say, "Wait, so even after I abandoned you and tried to kill you, you still looked out for me?"

I rolled Itachi's eyes at her and reluctantly answered, "Yeah, but you would have gotten us both killed if I allowed them to recruit you."

"So you really aren't that heartless!" she laughed at me.

"Shut up!"

Then, she added, "I do remember being pursued for a few days in June. I was afraid it was shinobi from Kumo until they disappeared after a couple weeks. Then, I thought that they might have just been a creepy stalker who happened to be a shinobi while vacationing in Tomonoura."

"It was Kisame following you. He's alright. I've been working with them for months, and I like them better than all the other teams in the organization." It felt odd talking about them as if they were just a couple of colleagues at work.

She replied, "Kisame is the one with the blue skin, right?"

I confirmed her guess with a nod. "I feel like I should be terrified of them, but I also feel like they would have killed me a long time ago if they didn't need me. Itachi could kill me in a literal blink of an eye, and the _only_ reason I defeated Kisame was because all of the aspects of our fight worked out in my favor. And, there are about seven more of them that are as strong as them, if not stronger."

Nini countered my resolve with, "What about the Great Nations? I'm sure you have missions against the nations being in an organization that isn't connected to a single village. You'll become a target for multiple nations. And, you said they're collecting biju? That's way too dangerous! Even for you!"

"I'm already in the bingo book, and so are you, so the villages already have incentive to kill me. I doubt killing Toru would prove our innocence or help any with that thickheaded raikage. In the Akatsuki, at least I have a team that will back me up if I'm in trouble. They've been pretty useful to me with Toru's bounty on my head. If I abandon the Akatsuki, then I won't have any allies to defend me, and then they'll be my enemy too. As for the biju, they have some sort of seal that suppresses their power. They already have like four of the nine biju."

"Why don't you try hiding?" she asked.

"Where would I hide?" I replied. "There's nowhere for me to go!"

"Still, you can't stay with them for much longer. There's no telling what might happen to you, especially if Kumogakure finds out you're working for them. You need to get out of there before they collect too many biju!"

"I'll be fine as long as I'm on their side," I reassured her. "I'd rather be their ally than their enemy, at least for the moment."

"Then, let me join with you," she proposed.

I shook my head and immediately refused her suggestion, "Absolutely not! You don't have the self-control to work for the Akatsuki. It's not uncommon for us to have to kill people like those archers. They could have been the same archers that attacked me this morning. And, just look at how you handled Toru after you learned the truth! Like I said, you'll get us both killed!"

"I would not!" she argued somewhat childishly. "I'm your twin. That means I have your exact same DNA. If you can act like an emotionless bitch, I can learn to, too. Besides, don't you remember all those missions we were assigned together in Kumo? We were the perfect team. There wasn't anyone who could defeat us when we worked with each other."

"That was before you hooked up with an asshole that's trying to kill your sister," I responded, furrowing Itachi's brows at her.

"He probably thought I was you at first. He didn't even know I had a twin for the first few months of our relationship. Then, I think maybe he got close to me thinking he could kill you, and he used me to get his revenge. When he realized that wouldn't work, he came up with a new plan. I thought it was weird he wasn't paying much attention to me lately. I had to practically drag him out the house to do anything with me, and we hadn't had sex in months. When he proposed to me, I figured that he hadn't been paying attention to me because he was so nervous about proposing, so I forgot about it." She held up her hand to show me a big, fat diamond set in white gold on her finger.

"Shit, keep the house and his money! He doesn't have any relatives, does he?" I asked.

"Nope. Once we kill this bastard, all that money is mine!" Hanini let out a laugh as sinister as Kisame's while the horses continued up through the mountains. She was taking this betrayal fairly well. Maybe she would be able to handle the Akatsuki after all.

We could finally see the volcano when the sound of a woman's scream caught our attention. It sounded like Itachi with my voice. Nini and I found him hunched over a stream that cut through the path to the volcano, grabbing onto my head in pain from what seemed to be one of my migraines. He had been trying to soothe the pain with water from the stream, but it wasn't cold enough.

Hanini immediately jumped down from her horse to see to him. I stayed on mine and asked him, hoping that he could speak, "Where's Kisame? Is he still following them?"

Once Hanini stabilized the electricity in his body, he was able to answer me. "I instructed Kisame go on without me so we wouldn't lose them. One of your migraines hit me and I couldn't control it. I shocked him badly. I believe he is still on their trail."

"You'll be fine now," Hanini reassured him. "I have some pain relievers that will help." Even after learning who he was, she was still as gentle as ever while she treated him.

"I'll go ahead and catch up with Kisame," I told them. "Try to hurry up." With that, I took off after our partner.

In the north face of the mountain's base, there was a large entrance to a network of caverns guarded by two giant statues of ancient deities. I tied the horse to a nearby tree and grabbed a flashlight before descending into the cave on foot. The temperature dropped dramatically just a few steps into the cave, and the whole place reeked of the same nasty scent that covered Toru's shirt. When the morning light from outside disappeared completely, I could sense someone following me. It turned out to be Kisame.

"Shit, don't scare me like that!" I exclaimed as softly as I could.

He chuckled slightly, replying, "Sorry, I got lost without a light. This place gives me the creeps. I'm not exactly comfortable being underground." There was a fresh burn on his hand that traveled all the way past his elbow where Itachi must have shocked him with the Babakoto.

I inspected it as well as I could with the flashlight. It was a pretty large, but clean burn, and he had already washed it with water. I told him, "That'll heal well with coconut oil. There are plenty of coconut trees around here. Can you hang in there till this is over?"

He smirked at me and answered, "I've had worse."

I directed him ahead of me with the flashlight since he had the better eyesight out of the two of us. Then, Kisame noticed a flickering light coming from one part of the cave deeper in the caverns. He shut off the flashlight so we could follow it. Nearing closer to the light, both Kisame and I could hear voices echoing through the damp walls. There were lit torches lining the cave walls stretching all the way to the source of the sounds.

Kisame and I hid behind a large cluster of stalagmites to further analyze what was going on. Toru was talking to Reiki who was locked in an old, rusty cage that was large enough to hold at least thirty men. I was relieved to see Reiki was talking back to him and not dead. With him were seven archers, three of which were the same men we released in the lighthouse. I made a mental note to yell at Hanini when she arrived.

Turning to Kisame, I whispered instructions softly to him, "I'll confront them by myself. Stay here in case something goes wrong."

"Whatever you say," he accepted my orders. "It's your mission."

In response to his comment, I gave him the flashlight and said, "Thanks for the help." He let out a soft chuckle as I left him to confront Toru.

Rather than waiting for them to make their move, I took out three of the seven archers as I approached them. Two of the three that I killed were the two older men that we had taken captive the day before. The younger one was too hesitant to even raise his arrow at me. The other three that I hadn't killed yet all aimed their weapons at me to try to prevent me from harming them.

I was about to continue when a sharp burn coursed through my stomach. Shit! The symptoms from Nini's poison must have been starting to manifest. The feeling disappeared, though, as quickly as it had attacked.

Toru held a knife to Reiki and commanded me to stop. "One scratch from this poison and he's dead," he threatened. I simply smirked at him without saying anything.

Reiki asked Toru, confused, "Who the hell is that?"

Toru kept his glare on me when he answered Reiki, "Your baby cousin, Indira. She had an unfortunate encounter with an uchiwa user who took away her ability to use her kekkei genkai."

"Didn't I tell you not to mess around with that Kione? She's always been jealous of me, trying to get me to let her take over my businesses." Reiki didn't let a knife at his throat prevent him from nagging me. "It's about damn time you showed up! I been stuck in this fucking place for weeks!"

"Shut up!" Toru snapped at him, pressing the knife to his skin. He then turned to the remaining archers to scold them, "Didn't I say I wanted her dead? These aren't pirates you're dealing with. They have powers your puny minds could never comprehend. That's why I've taken such great lengths to kill her."

"Too bad they were all in vain," I said to him still wearing the same smirk on Itachi's face. "You let innocent people die that would be alive right now if you hadn't pulled them into your scheme, and you caused me and my team quite a bit of trouble. However, I'd like to thank you for giving me the opportunity to live without my kekkei genkai for a change, and to take a small break from that shithole of a continent. But, even without my kekkei genkai, I still have enough power to take care of you. I mean, I think it's hilarious that you believed you could pull something like this off. I have to hand it to you, though, for even coming this far."

Just then, the sound of rushing water began filling the cave. "What's that? What are you doing?" he asked me nervously. Kisame must have taken Toru's threat against Reiki as a sign that it was time for him to intervene.

I yelled at Reiki to hold onto the cage while I braced myself using Itachi's chakra to hold onto the cave wall. A wall of water came rushing through the cave towards us. What I didn't couldn't see, even if I had normal vision, was that the water knocked the knife from Toru's hand and across Reiki's skin, slicing into his shoulder.

Kisame, Itachi, and Nini all came out from behind the stalagmites to face Toru and the archers who were trying to steady themselves after the water shoved them to the ground. I took care of Reiki so not as to spread the poison in my own body faster than it already was. My team and Nini were perfectly capable taking care of the archers on their own. Despite Toru's lack of luck, the archers still foolishly fought on his behalf.

Two of the archers were able to quickly collect their weapons and started to attack us. Nini and Itachi used kunai to hold them off. "Are you ready to try this?" she said to him.

"Yeah," he replied as she ran behind the two archers. One of the other archers ran to her to attack her in her blind spot. However, the younger archer shot the third archer from behind, betraying Toru and his team to help us. He was smart to realize that we would kill him if he fought against us, so he decided to help us instead to keep his life.

I couldn't see what Nini did to the rest of the archers. Unlike most jutsu, the energy of the Babakoto was invisible. However, it seemed like Nini used the water left over on the ground to conduct a stream of electricity from her to Itachi, taking out all of the archers except for the young man who betrayed them.

"Come on!" she shouted before Toru had the chance to get himself up. With Itachi's strength, I was able to carry Reiki on my back to get him out of the caverns. Just as we began to see light, Nini weaved hand signs that triggered several bombs behind us, sealing Toru in the pathway forever.

She told us once we were back on the surface, "I wish I could watch him rot in that cave."

* * *

**I'm super sorry again. This is the third time I missed the schedule to upload the new chapter. Feel free to send hate mail or something if I do it again.**

**Check back on _October 27th 2014_ for the next chapter!**


	11. Jini

Reiki still refused to sleep during the Amani festival. "The last night is always the worst," he said to us between enormous bites of the dinner Nini made for us at _her_ house. We stayed with her that night so as to be closer to Tomonoura in case Reiki or I needed anything during our recovery from the poison she gave us. We urged him to rest, but he stubbornly insisted that he was not going to sleep that night. "I've been beaten, starved, and poisoned. I ain't taken any chances tonight with those jini out there."

I tried to use logic against his superstition to persuade him, "If you've been through all of that, you should be able to survive a jini in your dreams one night."

"Those things can start wars!" he firmly clung to his decision. "They can get people to kill each other and do all kinds of crazy shit. I am not gonna let them get me tonight! 'Sides, all I did in that cave was sleep. No wonder I was having those crazy dreams. I didn't even know it was the Amani festival. By the way, one of you needs to fix my back. It's killing me after sleeping in a cave for almost a month!"

Reiki was half the size he was when I left him in July, and he had marks on his face and body that were even darker than his skin. Nini gave him some pills to help with the pain, but she couldn't do much for him until he ate and regained some strength. Since he didn't want to go to sleep, he opted to recover in a lounge chair in the cool breeze of the ocean on the beach.

After I helped Nini clean up, I joined him. The last time I was able to relax on the beach was right after Itachi and I had switched, and I was drunk, pretending to be someone else with some weird girl I just met. It was much more comfortable to sit with Reiki at night in the cool darkness. If I had been in my body, I would've probably had goose bumps all along my arms and legs. In Itachi's body, the salty air felt crisp and perfect. The light of Tomonoura wasn't strong enough to engulf the stars that danced on the crests of rolling waves. They tumbled onto shore, singing in low roars.

"I keep forgetting that's you in that guy's body," he said over the waves. "I told you not to fool around with Kione."

"She was the one who summoned me to the island, telling me you were dead. If it wasn't for her, you'd still be in that cave."

"If it wasn't for her, I would've never had been in that cave in the first place. By the way, what happened to her?"

"Don't know," I answered. It was better that he didn't know we killed her, for his safety and ours. He probably suspected it, though, by my nonchalant tone.

After a moment of silence, he brought up the subject I was avoiding, "You need to take care of that jutsu. It's not good to linger around in someone else's mind under an uchawi jutsu."

"I don't know anyone who knows uchawi." My thoughts from earlier that week were still at the front of my mind now that Kione and Toru were gone and Reiki was safe. I really didn't want to switch back with Itachi. He could keep my body with that horrible curse for all I cared. Those nightmares of his were nothing compared to my migraines. It might have been the jini causing them anyway.

He replied, "Well shit, I guess I gotta do it. I haven't messed with uchawi in a long time. I won't be able to do the jutsu until I recover some strength from being in that cave."

"You're trained in uchawi?" I blurted out. "Since when?"

He mumbled a sound that kind of sounded like a blurred, "I don't know."

"How come you never told me!"

"You never asked! For someone as smart as you, you ain't too curious, never asked questions. You never was interested in other people unless you wanna have sex with 'em." I huffed at him in response to his comments.

"Who taught you?" I asked him, attempting to sound interested.

"Father." He told me about it as if it was important for me to know. "My great-grandmother was your great-great-grandmother. She had nine kids. The oldest two, your great-grandmother and her twin got that Babakoto from their mama. Their younger sister, my grandmother, didn't get it, but she married a descendant of one of the original kings of Kiawa who was a master at uchawi. He taught his son and his son taught me."

I was almost falling asleep to the sound of the ocean. Still, I asked, laying back with Itachi's eyes closed, "You aren't gonna keep up the tradition?"

"You sound like I ain't got time."

I looked to him with a smirk to say, "You're 30-something now, right? You need to get on it if you're trying to keep the uchiwa tradition alive."

"Shit, I don't care if it stays around or not," he admitted. "Whatever's gonna happen to me will happen. I ain't running after something that's not supposed to be. If I'm supposed to have a kid, I'll have one."

I chuckled through Itachi's teeth, then a yawn made its way out of me. I was dangerously close to passing out. When was the last time I slept?

I asked Reiki, "How is this keeping you awake? I'm about to fall asleep right here."

"Fall asleep? I'm freezing in this breeze. Had to bring this with me." He held up a half empty bottle of rum. "I couldn't fall asleep out here if I tried."

"Really? I'm comfortable. I think the breeze feels great."

"I'm starting to think you really ain't Indri." He sounded like he did the night of the storm when I first met Kione.

"Itachi's bigger than me, and his body's probably a lot more used to the cold than mine. We're spoiled down here. I already had to start wearing pants up on the mainland. I hadn't worn pants in over a year before going back up there."

"Are you gonna stay when I switch you back?" he asked. He took a sip of rum, then looked at me for my answer. It was just as easy coming up with a lie in Itachi's head as it was in my own.

"I owe them for helping me out," I replied, referring to Kisame and Itachi, "so, yeah. I don't know when I'll be back."

"Well, you gonna come visit me if you gotta stay up there for too long." That was an order, not a suggestion. "These businesses of mine are getting out of control. We get more and more tourists every year. I was gonna give Kione responsibility for some of them."

"By the way, I'm selling them if you ever die again. I don't do well with responsibility."

"Bitch, I don't care what you do with them after I'm dead. I'll be dead."

"Don't die too soon, then. Tomonoura will fall apart without you. Then, where am I gonna get free rum?" He raised an eyebrow at me, but I laughed softly, smiling at him.

"Get your ass in bed before you give me a reason to give them to your sister instead."

I laughed even louder at him, and then stood up, folding up my chair.

"Go ahead and give them to her. I don't need them." When I started to leave, I called out to him, "Night, Reiki! Don't let the jini get you!"

…

The jini got me instead that night. They got me bad.

Images of the Sasuke boy and Shisui and some of those old Konoha people and the third hokage flooded Itachi's dreams. It was the first time I was able to sleep so deeply, which made the nightmares longer and clearer than they ever were. I was so scared and sad throughout the whole thing.

I saw Shisui. His eyes were bleeding and there was an eye with the Sharingan in his hand. He was giving it to me. Then, he jumped off the edge of a cliff over and over again. An awful feeling came over me every time, emerging from the pit of Itachi's stomach. It was so vivid that eventually it woke me up. I wanted to throw up, I felt so awful.

I went to the bathroom and sat with Itachi's head over the toilet in case I had to puke. It was a much different feeling than getting sick from alcohol. I always felt so much better after throwing up whenever I had too much to drink. This time, when I finally hurled, I just felt worse. As I was falling asleep again over the toilet, I couldn't stop myself from thinking about Itachi's dreams. He was so sad and scared. And the way I felt when Shisui jumped off that cliff kept making me even sicker.

My thoughts wandered through Itachi's memories, trying to make sense of his feelings. I could see them almost as clear as my own memories without the Babakoto. I could see Shisui and the same old people from his dreams, and the hokage and Sasuke. Whenever I saw Shisui's and Sasuke's faces, I felt warm and whole, but terribly sad. But, shouldn't I have felt hatred?

Once my stomach started feeling better, it was easier to think without Itachi's overwhelming emotions. He didn't hate his cousin or the little child named Sasuke who I kept seeing in his head. Actually, I think he might have loved them. So, why would he have killed them if he loved them?

That's when it dawned on me that Itachi must have never wanted to do what he did.

He was not a psychopath.

It made total sense. That's why he always gave excuses when it came to fighting and killing people. He always acted like it was his powers bothering him, but now I realized that he purposefully wasted his powers on simple tasks to wear himself out, forcing Kisame and me to wait on him to recover.

That's why I never noticed a sense of hatred about him despite how he acted and talked about it, and how he scolded me for my spectrum of emotions that didn't necessarily include any kind of deep hatred. He was actually full of emotions that I had never experienced in my life. I could feel them inside him whenever I tried to think about his memories.

I searched his memories for an explanation as I flushed the commode and washed his hands. I didn't lie back down when I got back to bed. I just sat there, thinking about Itachi's sadness.

The hokage and older people from Konoha kept popping up in his head again. I was finally able to find his specific memories of them. I felt angry towards one of them that wore bandages over his arms and one of his eyes, but deep respect for him at the same time. There was so much respect for all four of them in Itachi's mind. They were saying things, just like in his dreams. Unlike his dreams, I tried to focus on what they were saying. I couldn't recall the actual words like I would have been able to in my memory, but I could still feel his emotions about what they were saying.

One memory in particular was incased in despair about Shisui and his family, even though I saw the man with the bandages. It was him. The man with the bandages was the one who was responsible for the massacre. I could just feel it. I was so angry and sad and completely hopeless thinking about him.

It just made sense. Without some type of trigger, Itachi would have never killed off his entire family simply to prove himself all on his own, even if he was a psychopath. And, there's no way a thirteen-year-old could take on the entire Uchiha clan. It all made much more sense.

Figuring out the truth from Itachi's memories made me feel so bad, I had to stand up and walk around to force myself to think of other things. It would be really bad if he ever knew I knew about his past. There were no guarantees that he wouldn't find out if we switched back, especially if I could easily investigate his memories like I just did.

There was another problem that I realized as well. If Itachi was ordered to kill his clan by Konoha, and he actually did it, that meant he was deeply loyal to his village. So, for him to have joined the Akatsuki, either something must have happened that changed him, or he was a spy.

I immediately rushed to Nini's room and almost woke her up, but I stopped. Itachi's dreams and feelings were knowledge that could've put her in serious danger if Itachi, or anyone ever found out she knew. I didn't want to get her into any more trouble than I already had.

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**Check back on November 10th 2014 for the _last_ chapter!**


	12. Indri

**31/3/15 :** _Hey y'all! I decided to go back and edit this chapter (actually I completely rewrote the ending) since I didn't have too much time to edit it when I published it. Hopefully I can write more Itachi/Indri in the future when I finally have free time. I'm really feeling an M-rated one-shot based on this chapter pretty soon. I'll be going to France this summer, and I'm not talking about Paris. My ass is gonna be relaxing on the Mediterranean in Provence for six weeks, sipping rose wine and stuffing my face with lavender flavored macaroons. So, I'm hoping that'll inspire me! Enjoy._

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There was nothing I could do. After learning Itachi's intentions in the Akatsuki, I couldn't allow him to have access to my brain any longer. If I could breach his memories, it was possible he could gain access to information in mine that would be problematic if Konoha ever learned about them. However, if we switched back, would he be able to know my thoughts and that I had discovered his secrets in his dreams? It was times like these when the Babakoto would have actually been useful. His mind was so cluttered—it was difficult to think straight.

The easiest, ideal route for me would have been to take his body and just run away. If it weren't for Nini and Reiki, I would have. Escaping the Akatsuki would have undoubtedly put them in harm's way.

The most logical idea I could come up with was to kill him somehow after we switched. Even that wasn't a flawless plan. Without evidence of his true purpose, the Akatsuki would be suspicious of me since they still didn't fully trust me. Tattle telling would've put me in a similar boat without solid proof.

I could frame the murder to appear as an accident to prove I was not responsible. All it would take was a little jellyfish venom, or even a small dose of a potent disease. It would be easier to plot once I had the Babakoto back.

But, as I planned out my strategy, a funny feeling in my throat welled up, similar to the same feeling I experienced when Nini attacked me after our mother died. I excused the feeling for the physical attraction I felt towards him, that I felt it would be a shame to kill such a handsome man. Yet, his tragic memories lingered in my thoughts, amplifying the feeling in my throat. He wanted this life as much as I did. We were both forced into this brutal world by our fathers and villages. How he could still be so loyal to them after what they put him through made me want to cry even more than I already had. I couldn't bring myself to sincerely make the decision to kill him.

So as soon as I was free to deface my own body again, I lit a blunt that I paired off with a dark rum and tried to think of an alternative plan with the Babakoto back in my own head. Reiki had to rest after he switched Itachi and me back, and Nini as well since she assisted him in controlling his chakra and the Babakoto. Itachi lingered at the table with me, and Kisame was taking advantage of our vacation somewhere in Tomonoura. What that meant for him, I wasn't sure.

I sat with Itachi in Reiki's kitchen silently on a quiet night, our minds in their original bodies. The room itself was dark with candles lighting the room rather than the kitchen lights, which I was glad about since Itachi neglected to apply my usual makeup on my face. I never did fix the generator for Reiki since June, but I thought he would've had it fixed by now. The jutsu took a lot longer than expected, beginning before the sun started to even set, and now the night enveloped the island in a dark blanket of stars. I offered Itachi a drink and smoke, but he only opted for a tea without any alcohol or even sugar. I cringed at the idea, but I made it for him anyway.

Being near him was much different after we switched back. I was still scared shitless of his power, but the fear of him acting out on that power was gone. Maybe it was the lack of fear that now allowed me to really see who he was through my own eyes and with my own brain.

He wasn't just a hot monster anymore, like I was led to believe. He was a regular guy who had endured too much at an inappropriate age, forcing him into the worst mission I've ever heard of for the sake of his village. In the candlelight, I noticed a small tinge of pain in his eyes that was probably always present that I hadn't noticed before because I didn't care to notice. He stared into his cup, waiting patiently for his tea to cool to a reasonable temperature. The deep tear troughs under his eyes were especially prominent in the dark lighting at the angle he directed his face, making him seem older, though he was about a year younger than me. His typical stern expression was much softer, too.

I began to pour myself another drink while I was still puffing on the herb when he started criticizing my poor life choices, "Now that you have your body back, Indri, you really should attempt to reframe from old habits. You need your health if you are going to survive in the Akatsuki."

I raised a brow at him, spitefully taking another puff, and said, "I've got multiple nations that would love to have my head on a silver plate. What this shit does to me is the least of my worries right now. Besides, it helps me relax, and I can fight better when I'm relaxed. So, really, it helps me. As long as I'm able to do what you want me to, I don't see the problem."

He sighed in response.

"You sure you don't want any?"

"No, thank you," he politely refused.

"You know, a little can actually be good for you."

"Hn…"

Holding a conversation with him was like holding water with hands instead of a container. I would've already given up if he were anyone else. I was just so fascinated with him. I had never in my life ever been fascinated by someone I wanted to sleep with, or anyone really. The funny necklace he wore and the sexy, long black hair he pulled back with an elastic band, indicating a sense of style behind his stoic personality, made me want to laugh. His dreams held so much depth and emotion in them, it was hard to believe he was the person who dreamed them. I truly wanted to know who he was.

"So, what do you like to do to relax?" I asked him. "I've never seen you do anything but work and rest these past several months. It's just as unhealthy as drinking and smoking to focus on being a shinobi all the time."

He replied with more effort than I expected, "But, we are shinobi. That will never change no matter what we do."

"I wasn't a shinobi for about two years, and it was awesome." I held up my cup to him, tipping it slightly, basically toasting to my previous years with a fake smile defiling my naked face. "You ruined my life, Itachi Uchiha. Reiki would've never been kidnapped, I could've dealt with Kione and Toru a lot easier by myself, and I wouldn't have to go back to the mainland with you. Now that Nini doesn't hate me, I could figure out how to control the Babakoto entirely and spend the rest of my life lounging around on the beaches here if it wasn't for you."

"I am sorry for interfering with your previous lifestyle," he responded. "However, you have been a great service to the Akatsuki from the moment you began.

His comment gave me an idea upon going about dealing with his truth. I wasn't sure if my plan would work, and I probably should have waited a little longer to decide what to do, but it just seemed like the best time to execute it.

"I have, haven't I?" Suddenly he seemed a bit confused as I put out the blunt in the ashtray in the middle of the table. "I mean, before I came around, you and Kisame weren't getting any shit done."

"We also didn't have your abilities before you joined our team," he excused himself. "I don't have to use my eye prowess as much anymore thanks to you."

"Our opponents aren't usually that impressive, though. There just tends to be a strong number of them. From what I've seen of you two, you and Kisame's power combined typically far outweighs our enemies. I don't recall a time when you and Kisame wouldn't have been able to carry out your missions without me. You and Kisame are perfectly strong enough and smart enough paired together. What are you going to do if Nini joins us and the leader teams us up and it's just you and Kisame again?"

He didn't respond. I wondered if anyone had ever called him out on bullshit before. They probably never have out of fear of what he might do to them if they questioned him. I had never seen Kisame question any of his orders, though I did occasionally if I felt they were wrong. But, I certainly wouldn't have said any of that to his face before I learned his secret.

We sat again in silence, staring at each other, not breaking eye contact except to drink our drinks. That moment seemed better than any to finally start getting to my point.

"You want to know what I think?" Again, no response. I guess he assumed I was going to tell him anyway, which was true. "I think that you want our missions to fail."

"Why would I want that?" he asked me calmly.

"Because you're a spy for Konoha."

Out of all the possible ways he could have reacted to my accusation, I was relieved he only shifted his position to a more comfortable one, still drinking his tea. However, the air became thick with tension building between us.

"What makes you say that?" he questioned my theory so passively, I felt the need to soften my tone and expression as well to match his for what I was about to say next.

I opened my mouth to answer him, but it was difficult to actually say it. I looked away from him and down to my drink, taking a deep breath before I spoke. Looking back up to him, I said to him so softly that it was almost a whisper, "I know that Konoha ordered you to kill your family. If you're that loyal to your village, there's no way you would be in the Akatsuki otherwise."

The candles tickled his face with their faint light as he looked down away from me as well. He didn't say anything for the longest time. Out of respect, I didn't either until he asked me, "How did you find out?"

"The jini showed me," I replied, and let out a weak chuckle before continuing. "I'm sure that's what Reiki would say because I saw it in your dreams when we were switched during the fesitval. At first, I didn't know what to think of them because I never dreamed before thanks to the Babakoto, then I realized they were just dreams. But, they seemed so real, like a genjutsu. One night when I woke up, your memories started popping up in my thoughts until I figured it out." I shuttered and also looked away from him to drink some of my rum. "I'm sorry, Itachi."

Instead of asking me any more questions or berating me for meddling in his head, he said, "I know you didn't kill your mother."

I lifted my eyes back up to him to ask, "Are you going to kill me?"

Ironically his answer was, "No, I don't want to kill you."

"Then, how about we keep this between us?" I suggested. "I'll keep your secret safe if you keep my and my sister's information from Konoha." I gave him my most sincere smile to confirm that my statement was my true intention.

Then, something happened that I never thought I would witness in my life. The corners of Itachi's lips curled up ever so slightly into a faint, almost unnoticeable smile. It was invigorating seeing such a positive change in his face, as minor as it was. It brought a vague glow to his face that hadn't been there before, which seemed to radiate all throughout him, warming his cold and aloof disposition.

"I know you're shitty with promises, but it would be the best thing for both of us," I added.

He tilted his head up in a nod, confirming the deal, "I agree." With that, his handsome, little smile disappeared from his face as he finished off the rest of his tea. But, that glow remained in him along with the sadness in his eyes.

I took his empty cup from him to place it in the sink with mine. Neither of us were very tired, so I had an idea.

"Come on, I have something to show you," I said.

I led him into the darkness outside with only a sliver of the moon to light the jungle around us. The night air wasn't nearly as cool as I expected. It was actually quite warm out with a chilly breeze sweeping the island every so often. There was probably a low pressure forming near the island for a rare winter storm.

The waves crashed beyond the trees, calling to us until we arrived at our destination. I brought him to the edge of the jungle where there was a beach located in a tiny bay surrounded by cliffs closer to my house than Reiki's. It wasn't the same beach we met, though. This bay was only connected to the ocean through a narrow opening in the cliffs, then opened up into a circular shape, narrowing again even smaller towards the beach. The cliffs were much larger than the ones by my house, towering far above the trees.

When I began taking off my clothes, Itachi modestly turned to look away.

"Don't worry," I laughed. "This isn't what I want to show you. Unless you want me to." I gave him a quirky smile, leaving my under layer of clothes on.

I walked up to Itachi and lifted my hands towards his face, but he backed away from them, confused.

"If you want to see what I'm going to show you, let me heal your eyes so they aren't blurry. You're not gonna want to miss out on this." He sighed at me, but closed his eyes to let me heal them. Because my chakra levels were naturally so low, I couldn't heal them as much as I had liked just with chakra. When I finished, his eyes fluttered open and focused on me to the best of their ability in the dark. "Better?"

"Yes. Thank you."

"They won't last, especially if you use your Sharingan. They'll blur up again in a few weeks." He nodded in response without any words.

"Okay," I said. "Are you ready?" Again, he didn't say anything. "Just wait here."

I used the boulders at the bottom of the cliff to climb onto a lower ledge that jutted into deeper water. My body was so much lighter than Itachi's—gracefully keeping my balance was so much easier than when we were switched even on the slippery rocks.

I looked back to him to see if he was looking, which he was, although he had moved to sit on one of the larger rocks next to the water. I smiled at him again as I took a few steps back to get a running start and took a deep breath. My legs propelled me off of the ledge and into the salty, black water where it began to glow an extraordinary neon blue. Once the water regained its stillness, the blue glow faded into a halo around my body. The water itself was warmer than the air, so much that I was more comfortable swimming around in the ocean than walking around the island. I swam up to Itachi, stirring the blue glow in the water some more, and crossed my arms on a nearby rock.

"Well?" I sought his opinion on the natural phenomenon he was witnessing, interested in what he thought of it. People didn't tend to interest me, but this was the kind of thing I completely nerded out about for my research during my years between Kiawa and the Akatsuki. Itachi was one of the smartest men I'd ever met, so I actually valued his thoughts on the matter of such science. For some reason, I thought it might've taken his mind off of things for a moment as well, since he didn't smoke or drink.

"Is this what you wanted to show me?" That was not the response I was hoping for.

"What? It's cool!" I replied defensively. "I could've left you to sit by yourself at Reiki's and do nothing cool."

He asked me without any curiosity in his tone, "What is it?"

"Dinoflagellates," I explained. "Bioluminescent phytoplankton." I kicked my legs behind me, making them glow even brighter. "You aren't going to join me?"

"I'm fine, thank you."

"You're so lame."

I hopped of the rock and swam around a little to keep the plankton glowing. The whole bay began to glow while I swam, but quickly faded whenever I stopped to rest. My next question for him was not even from curiosity. I just wanted to hear him speak.

"Who is Sasuke?"

"Didn't you learn that meddling in my memories?"

I had to spit out salt from my mouth before answering him, "Your memories are a lot blurrier than mine, kind of like your eyes. I couldn't understand everything in them." I thought I might have heard him chuckle when I submerged myself under the surface of the water.

He answered my question as easily as if I had asked him the time when I resurfaced, "He's my little brother."

My eyes jerked back up to him impulsively, and the lump in my throat from earlier appeared again.

Gently, I apologized to him, "I'm sorry." I waited a moment to ask, "Is he…"

I couldn't find the right word to call it for the conversation. While I was thinking, he answered me anyway, anticipating what I was about to ask, "He's alive."

I returned to my original position holding on to the rock next to him.

"However, he hates me," he added unnecessarily. My eyes narrowed curiously at him, and I tilted my head like a dog to listen to him. "I wanted him to keep the impression that the Uchiha were a noble clan, so I had to lie to him and tell him that I murdered our family for power. Now, he is seeking revenge on me."

"Wait, do you want to die?" He didn't answer, so I pulled myself up onto the ledge to sit by him. It wasn't as if I didn't expect he did after all he had been put through. I just didn't want to accept it, not from someone like him. I kicked the water around to keep the plankton's blue light from fading completely. "Well, I guess we're not so different. You're gonna get your brother to kill you, and I'm gonna ruin my liver drinking like a fish."

Hesitantly, I leaned against him to gain some warmth from shivering my scrawny ass off out of the water. He actually didn't seem to mind. He even moved his arm behind me to make the position more comfortable for both of us.

"God, I'm cold," I groaned to excuse my touchy behavior. "You're so warm, Itachi. I wasn't as cold as I usually am when we were switched.

He replied, "When we were switched, I was cold all the time except when the sun was beating down on the island."

I rested my chin on his shoulder, slightly positioning myself behind him to gain even more warmth from him. "My body is built to absorb the most intense sunlight all year round so that it can regulate the electricity in me. My skin should be black like Reiki's and Kione's, but it's not thanks to my dad and my mama's dad."

He then said something to me I'd never thought I'd hear him say. He actually complimented my appearance; "Your skin is nice as it is." He had complimented my abilities before, but I never expected that from him.

"Thanks," I said ironically and not as appreciative as I should to hide my surprise. "But you haven't been keeping up with it like I told you to. See, my elbows are starting to get rough." I believe there was a faint chuckle I heard escaping from his throat.

We sat there like that for a long time after, watching the bioluminescent plankton play in the reflection of the tiny moon. I realized I was soaking his clothes with the water on me, so I backed away from him and let out a soft apology, "I'm sorry. You must be cold now, too." I touched where I was leaning against him to feel how damp his clothes had gotten.

"No, it's fine…" It didn't take more than a split second to catch his gaze with my eyes, which kept him from finishing what he was about to say. His own dark eyes were much softer without the Sharingan activated so that they almost possessed a childlike nature to them under the pain. I found myself slowly leaning into him, and him to me. Tilting my head slightly, I closed my eyes and took my time closing the empty space between his lips and mine.

To my delight, he reciprocated the kiss, though he did so very hesitantly. It took him a while to finally match the rhythm of my lips. Obviously he hadn't kissed a girl in a long time, but he got the hang of it quicker than most guys who couldn't kiss properly.

When I started to wrap one of my arms around his neck, he suddenly tensed up and jerked away from me, whispering, "We shouldn't." He stood up, hopped of the rock, and started towards the path to my house where we had planned to stay the night rather than Reiki's since it was closer.

It was faster for me to jump into the water again and swim to the beach to catch up to him. I grabbed his hand and called, "Wait, Itachi!"

He stopped and turned around to face me again with an odd haziness now in his black eyes. I let go of his hand and stepped back. "Now it's gonna be awkward between us."

"I'm sorry, Indri. I shouldn't have let that happen in the first place."

"Why not?" I asked with my brows furrowed at him. "It's not like we've got anything left to lose."

"For one, it could jeopardize our efficiency as teammates, and…" he paused for a moment, seeming to try to find the words for what he wanted to say to me, "…You said I ruined your life by dragging you into the Akatsuki. I don't want to hurt you anymore than I have. I've already hurt too many people."

Once he finished talking, I laughed. I laughed so hard, I started to cough. The dryness that lingered in my throat from smoking and the salty air didn't help. He really was full of bullshit excuses. He narrowed his eyes at me, baffled by my reaction.

"Is that all? Itachi, I'm so sorry I said that because it's not true. I was just testing your patience so I could determine if I could tell you what I learned about you. I was the one that fucked up my mission a long time ago and got on Kumo's bad side, and that put me in this situation right now. I ruined my own life."

"Indri, I put you in danger. You still haven't figured out the purpose of the Akatsuki yet, have you?"

I folded my arms against the chilling breeze, and answered him, "No. I haven't even met the leader in person yet, and I don't care enough to think about it. I figured the leader wants to challenge the Great Nations somehow."

"So, you care enough to dig into my thoughts, yet you don't care to know the purpose of the organization you are forced to work for?"

I shrugged my shoulders at him. "Your dreams made it fairly obvious. I didn't have to dig through your thoughts."

He shook his head at what he probably thought was a confusing statement, then continued, "The less you know the better, I guess. But, the leader will manipulate you and your sister to get what he wants, and if he must sacrifice you, he will. I sealed your fate by recruiting you into the Akatsuki."

"Then why didn't you just let Kakuzu come get me? I could've taken him."

"I don't know," he replied, focusing his newly healed eyes as well as they could on my own in the dark without the bioluminescent plankton to illuminate them. My lips pursed at him between the moment of silence that dropped for no longer than a minute.

"You shouldn't worry about hurting me," I told him. "You were the one criticizing me for my poor health choices earlier. How long has it been since you've been able to speak the truth to anyone?"

"I don't know."

"Now, that's unhealthy," I said, raising my brows at him. "Listen, I know you can't trust me. I definitely don't trust you. But, I want you. If you didn't want me either, I'd understand and back off, but I know you do. I felt your desire for me when we were switched." A shaky breath escaped his lips, indicating that his heartbeat had become uneven, possibly speeding up. Mine wasn't exactly in its normal rhythm, either, during this conversation. It felt a lot heavier than normal, too, and awkwardly oversized.

"Indri, it isn't that simple…"

"It is so simple, Itachi!" I interrupted him, clapping my hands to make a point. I then waved them around as I talked to poorly illustrate what I was already clearly saying. "God, everyone wants to make this shit so much more complicated than it is. I like you. You like me. What's the problem?"

Itachi replied with confidence in his answer, "I told you, Indri. This could jeopardize our efficiency as a team. We would be too distracted. Our emotions have no place in this organization."

"Itachi, you know we are both more than capable of self-restraint for the sake of a mission. And, don't give me that emotion bullshit. You fooled me before when I thought you were a sadistic asshole, but I can't believe you anymore about that bullshit now that I've felt your pain. You are the most emotional man I've ever met. You are the embodiment of sadness and guilt, yet you can complete the worst missions I've ever heard of."

"And, if something were to happen, what would you do? Being in the Akatsuki means that there is always the possibility of death. Or, we simply might not work out. You said it yourself that it would be awkward."

"I think it'll be worth it," I responded, crossing my arm against my chest again and also looking away from him. He didn't say anything, though one of his hands tenderly brushed a twisty lock of soaked hair behind my shoulder, and he used his fingers to untangle the bottom of that particular piece of hair. I pulled my hair from him to brush it with my fingers myself much more aggressively, then I looked back up to him.

"Not if I have to be responsible for your death."

"So don't be." I stepped towards him so that I was so close to him, I had to tilt my neck up at a steep angle to see his face. "I'm a big girl. I can take care of myself." My hands took on a mind of their own to fumble with a loose string on the hem of his shirt.

"Indri, I don't deserve this from you," he said, gently grabbing my hand, but he didn't push it away or let it go. His other hand found more loose strands of hair to brush away from my face and play with as he continued his thoughts, "You were right. I ruined your life."

Aggressively, I said to him with my free hand grabbing onto the fabric of his shirt above his chest as if I was trying to pull him down to me, "Well, then make it up to me."

He was even more hesitant this time, although obviously very eager, so he took his time slowly lowering his head to meet me. When he released my hand to place his on my waist, I picked up where I had left off by wrapping it around his neck. The kiss was raw and deep and much better than the first, and then finally, like the blue light of the plankton, everything else around us disappeared into a dark abyss.

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**That's all, y'all! I really hope you enjoyed the read. I still think I have a long way to go before publishing a book, but I've been having fun with this story for almost ten years.**

**If this wasn't enough Itachi/Indri action for you, follow me. I will probably end up writing one-shot spin-offs, and maybe even a mini series or two based on **_**Fish**_**.**

**Please keep in touch and comment about anything. I could really use the criticism to write more fanfiction and books.**

**All the best,**

**~Catherine**


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